April 28
$15.00

Those of us who have lived on the North Shore of Boston for any amount of time can’t help but have been exposed to the name, Bob Franke. This proud citizen of the North Shore (specifically, West Peabody) has certainly made a name for himself in the world of acoustic and folk music. Franke (rhymes with “Yankee”) performs concerts that are warm, thoughtful, humorous and enlightening, accompanying his gorgeous baritone voice on guitar and National Steel guitar.

Franke’s career as a singer-songwriter began in the mid 1960s when he was a student at the University of Michigan. He was one of the first people to perform at the famous Ark Coffeehouse. He moved to Cambridge after graduation and the rest is a wonderful addition to Boston folk music history.

Franke’s songwriting skills have become well-known among the folk community. Peter, Paul and Mary, David Wilcox, Garnet Rogers, and June Tabor among others have all performed Bob’s songs. These songs are simply captivating: they are complex and reveal Bob’s warm-hearted spirituality. When listening to his very personal lyrics, you often feel like you’re eavesdropping on a private conversation or reading his diaries. As a Boston Globe critic says: “Franke is a singer-songwriter unsurpassed for his lyrical grace. He is one of our wisest and most spiritually graceful songwriters.”

Bob’s latest recording, “The Other Evening in Chicago,” has been recommended as a “must have” by music critics across the country. The title of the CD reminds Franke fans of one his earliest CDs called “One Evening in Chicago.” This addition to the Franke repertoire includes all his greatest hits, per se. . . if folk singers had greatest hits. His songs are nothing short of inspirational. It’s difficult to hear a tune like “A Healing in This Night” or “A Still Small Voice” and not be moved. Named one of the Top 100 Folk Artists by WUMB listeners last year, it’s easy to see why fans continue to enjoy and appreciate our local folk troubadour so much.

Another one of Franke’s collections, “The Desert Questions,” includes a variety of songs about loss, love, courage, and compassion. It features pioneering folk-rock drummer Dave Mattacks, master guitarist Duke Levine, bassist Paul Bryan, and superb vocalists Julie Dougherty and Ellen Groves. Scott Alarik wrote: “It is possibly [Bob’s] most musically exciting record and finest vocal performance. The ballads about the collapse of a marriage at midlife are devastatingly vivid, a different mood from the romantic brooding found in youthful love-gone-wrong songs.”

One of Franke’s most moving songs from “The Desert Questions” is devoted to his daughter. The heartbreaking lyrics tell the story: “Love like your mama loved me, like I loved her when I learned to see. That the love that remains as we change is our surest guide.” Bob’s songs express his inner self yet are able to evoke feelings of empathy and recognition by all who hear them. One of his signature songs, “Hard Love” has a special Me&Thee connection: Ellen Wittlinger, a longtime volunteer at the coffeehouse, used the song as a basis of her award-winning young adult novel by the same name. And Franke’s ties to Marblehead don’t end there. He has composed three cantatas and several hymns for the Church of St. Andrew and he also wrote a Harvest Cantata for the Marblehead Eco-Farm.