JC Hopkins is a songwriter, bandleader, and producer. His exuberant music is influenced by many diverse genres including jazz, bebop, folk, rock, and the American Songbook. Described as a modern day Hoagy Carmichael, acclaimed singers such as Norah Jones, Willie Nelson, and Victoria Williams have covered his songs. As a bandleader, his 12-piece group, the JC Hopkins Biggish Band, has worked with a wide range of innovative vocalists including Elvis Costello, Justin Bond, Madeleine Peyroux and Martha Wainwright.
 

Hopkins has twice been nominated for a Grammy. He was nominated for his song “Dreams Come True,” recorded by Willie Nelson and Norah Jones, and also for his production of John Lithgow’s children’s album of Tin Pan Alley songs, The Sunny Side of the Street.
 
Aside from his work in music, Hopkins is also a filmmaker. His films delicately combine comedy and drama and are largely influenced by the likes of John Cassavetes, Woody Allen, and Charlie Chaplin. His short film, “The Goldberg Variations” and his webisode, “The Continuing and Seemingly Endless Courtship of Waldo Malone”, have been screened throughout New York City and explore themes of pathos and passion.

 
Working out of a studio space on the waterfront in Red Hook, Brooklyn, Hopkins is a skilled photographer and painter. His photo of Martha Wainwright was used as the cover of her album, Martha Wainwright’s Piaf Record. Using a mix of enamel and oil his paintings have been compared to the abstract expressionist painters of the 1950s. His body of visual work shares the same feeling of spontaneity and improvisation found in his music and films.