Bob Franke
Born (1947-07-25) July 25, 1947 (age 76)
Hamtramck, Michigan, U.S.
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • Musician
  • songwriter
Websitehttp://www.bobfranke.com

Bob Franke (born July 25, 1947, in Hamtramck, Michigan) is an American folk singer-songwriter.[1]

Biography

He began his career in 1965, while a student at the University of Michigan, and performed at The Ark, a coffeehouse in Ann Arbor.[2]

After graduating from Michigan in 1969 with a degree in English literature, he moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts[2] to attend Episcopal Theological School. He left school to pursue a musical career, and has lived in New England ever since, currently residing in Peabody, Massachusetts.[2]

In addition to his performing career, he teaches songwriting workshops and in 1990, wrote a set of songs for a ballet based on The Velveteen Rabbit. In 1999, the young adult novel Hard Love by Ellen Wittlinger, in which Franke's song of the same name features heavily, was published. Many of his songs have been covered by other artists, including Kathy Mattea, June Tabor, Garnet Rogers, Claudia Schmidt, John McCutcheon, Peter, Paul and Mary, and others.[3][4] His song "Thanksgiving Eve" was covered by Isaac Guillory on the album Slow Down in 1992.[5] Four of Franke's songs are included in the folk song collection Rise Up Singing: "Beggars to God", "The Great Storm Is Over", "Hard Love" and "Thanksgiving Eve".

Franke, a liberal Christian, often covers spiritual and personal themes in his songwriting.[3] His song "Alleluia, the Great Storm Is Over" was written shortly after his young daughter's orthopedic condition was diagnosed, and he has said that he composed the song while working at a chocolate factory, and that the rhythm of the song was based on the rhythm of the machines. "Love Bravely, Elizabeth" is addressed to the same daughter, and the songs on his album The Desert Questions were written after his divorce. Some of his writing is political. The song "Kristallnacht Is Coming" on his album The Heart of the Flower draws parallels between the Holocaust and Americans' attitudes towards immigrants during the 1990s and "El Niño" (on The Desert Questions) protests Proposition 187.[6]

His 1989 album Brief Histories has as its theme the history of Salem, Massachusetts, with songs about the witch trials, the Salem Willows amusement park, and Alexander Graham Bell.

Discography

See also

References

  1. ^ "Bob Franke Performing at the Kennedy Center". kennedy-center.org. June 29, 2000. Archived from the original on September 29, 2012. Retrieved August 22, 2022.
  2. ^ a b c "Bob Franke". Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Archived from the original on September 29, 2012. Retrieved December 30, 2010.
  3. ^ a b Roos, John (March 26, 1998). "The Franke Truth". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 30, 2010.
  4. ^ "Bob Franke". San Diego Folk Heritage. Retrieved December 30, 2010.
  5. ^ "Slow Down / Isaac Guillory / January 3, 1992". Amazon music. Retrieved January 9, 2021.
  6. ^ Gehman, Geoff (January 17, 1997). "Bob Franke Cuts To Heart Of The Matter With His Songwriting". mcall.com. The Morning Call. Retrieved August 22, 2022. He wrote "Krystallnacht Is Coming" the day after Californians voted to deny education and non-emergency health care to children of illegal immigrants. Proposition 187 is "a bad solution to a law-enforcement problem," insists Franke from his home in Peabody, Mass. "It uses children as hostages; it creates a criminal class of children." Franke borrowed the first-verse monologue from a former fellow factory worker, a German native who insisted, "We never wanted to kill Jews, we just wanted them away." He echoes this blithe rationalization in warnings that Prop 187 is a cruel, poorly disguised immigration policy, verses sung with disarming gentleness.


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