Meet the Founder
Dr. Jill Hobby is the President and Founding Director of the S.O.U.L.S. Youth Choir, a 501-(c)(3),non-profit corporation. Dr. Hobby holds degrees in music from Carson-Newman University (B.M.) and The University of Tennessee (M.M.) and holds degrees in leadership from Tennessee Technological University (Ed.S.) and East Tennessee State University (Ed.D.). She has used her educational training in public education as a teacher and administrator and currently works part-time as a Faculty Supervisor at Grand Canyon University, evaluating and coaching educators who are earning advanced degrees and uses her musical gifts at Callahan Road Baptist Church through singing, directing, and playing the piano.
Dr. Hobby’s choirs have been privileged to be invited to sing in person for President George W. Bush, General Colin Powell and the America’s Promise Kick-Off celebration, various State of Tennessee governors and mayors inaugurations, and twice at TVA’s Black History Celebration that was simulcast across eight states sharing the stage with Yolanda King, daughter of Martin Luther King Jr. and Morris Dees, Co-founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center. Additionally, her choirs performed as invited guests at the National Music Educators Conference with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra at TPAC, the National Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame Inductions simulcast on ESPN live from The Tennessee Theater, the Knoxville Opera Company Rossini Festival, and twice as the featured demonstration choir for The University of Tennessee Multi-cultural Music Symposium. In addition, her choirs have competed nationally in Atlanta four times and received nine first place trophies and three second place trophies.
Dr. Hobby believes S.O.U.L.S. gives young singers the opportunity to enhance their vocal skills, to make new friends, and to grow in their faith alongside other gifted Christ followers. She sees how the arts fuel passion into the lives of children, opening doors that would have remained closed if it had not been for music. She considers music as a vehicle to transport young people to new possibilities and brighter futures, as a source of joy and hope during challenging times of life, and as a personal safe haven in turbulent times. Her research and professional writings cite how music feeds our brains for interdisciplinary learning and how music cuts across racial barriers. Dr. Hobby is convinced that worship music is the open door for connecting with our Triune God.
For over two decades, Dr. Hobby has dreamed of leading a choir of diverse young people coming together across Knoxville and the surrounding nine counties, to sing praises to God and lead other young people to Christ through their message in song by singing at churches in the area and community events.
Check out recent media coverage of our first S.O.U.L.S. performance: a collaborative concert with Knoxville's Center for English and Integration Services.
If you see value in this ministry endeavor, please consider investing in our 501-(c)(3) with a financial donation.
My heart is confident, O God. I want to sing and make music even with my soul.
~Psalms 108:1
