|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
October 15, 2004Folk singer feels the lyricsBob Franke wants you to listen, tooByRecord-Eagle staff writer Singer-songwriter Bob Franke has as much to say these days as he did back in the 1960s. Only the topics have changed. Now 57, the folk musician is as likely to sing about second marriages and the pain of losing a parent as about traditional love and loss. "People of different ages have different issues and the issues I'm dealing with now in my life are the ones I write about," said Franke from his home in rural Peabody, Mass. Franke will share some of his songs - old and new - when he performs at the Maple Leaf Restaurant in Maple City at 4 p.m. Sunday. His show is part of a monthly concert series at the century-old renovated schoolhouse. Franke is a native of Hamtramck near Detroit. He grew up listening to American musical theater, whose combination of lyric and melody charmed and fascinated him. He began his career as a singer-songwriter in 1965 while a student at the University of Michigan, and was one of the first people to perform at The Ark, Ann Arbor's now-legendary coffeehouse. In 1969, after earning a degree in English literature, he moved to Cambridge, Mass., with the intention of going to school to become an Episcopal priest. Happily for fans, that plan fizzled out and he instead devoted his life to singing and songwriting. But his deep faith and literary leanings (singer Tom Paxton once said he thinks of Franke "as if Emerson and Thoreau had picked up acoustic guitars") comes through loud and clear. Best known as a "singer's songwriter," Franke has penned songs covered by such artists as Peter, Paul and Mary, John McCutcheon, Sally Rogers, Garnet Rogers and Kathy Mattea. He is also an expressive singer whose own versions have been praised for their quiet beauty. But it's songs like "Hard Love," "The Great Storm Is Over," "Thanksgiving Eve" and "Straw Against the Chill" that have earned him a place among Boston's best-loved and most-honored musicians. Contemplative and serious or humorous and sly, they examine daily life and death and the human spirit in ways that pop, rock and other genres seldom do, he believes. "Basically (folk singers) do some of the best musical theater in America," he said. "And it's a lot cheaper than Broadway. The best thing about folk music, or what people call folk music these days, is that it's lyric-oriented and mixed forward. There's nothing wrong with tune-oriented music; I love to listen to classical music, jazz. But if the lyrics are there, it's a terrible shame not to hear them." Franke emphasizes the power of song at his songwriting workshops, where he says two of every dozen students have the potential to become world-class songwriters. "Song is hardwired into our brains," he said. "It's an extremely powerful thing. Which is why I know every time I go to work it's going to be meaningful to somebody in a way few things are." Still, that kind of power doesn't necessarily translate into power in the commercial marketplace. While Franke has recorded a number of albums and has appeared on national radio programs like "A Prairie Home Companion" and "A Mountain Stage," he said he, like other folk singers today, exists "on the margin." "The bad thing is I will not make a lot of money," he said. "The good thing is I'm free to commit to my music. A lot of artists on national appearances tailor their songs to gatekeepers. My only gatekeeper is the audience, which is about 15 years ahead of what Nashville thinks is viable." Franke last appeared in northern Michigan at the Bay Theatre in Suttons Bay. He has also sung at fellow singer-songwriter Claudia Schmidt's former Old Rectory Pub and Restaurant on Beaver Island. Tickets for his Maple City performance are $13 at the door or $11 in advance at the Maple Leaf Restaurant and Cedar City Market in Cedar, Oryana Food Cooperative in Traverse City and Kejara's Bridge in Lake Leelanau. For more information, call 228-4688.
|
|
