Bob Franke

Thursday, October 8th, 2009
Start time: 07:30 PM

Bob Franke

at
Garfield House Concerts
Northville
Please RSVP to Attend

Doors at 7:00 p.m. Show at 7:30



From allmusic bio by Craig Harris: “A native of Hamtramck, near Detroit, Franke acquired his first guitar at the age of 14. He started writing his own songs not long afterwards. While attending the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where he earned a bachelor's degree in English literature, he became involved with the community's burgeoning folk community. In 1965, he became one of the first musicians to perform at the Ark coffeehouse.”



From Walnut Valley Performances: “Bob Franke is simply one of the best. At the peak of his considerable craft, he is brimming with the wise and spiritually generous songs for which he is best known, along with wrenchingly convincing topical songs and sugared with the hilarious. His songs are the kind of songs that really do have the power to change the world by being taken into the lives of people. His songs come to you! Tom Paxton says, ‘He has integrity. I think of him as if Emerson and Thoreau had picked up acoustic guitars and gotten into songwriting ... and too there are touches of Mark Twain and Buddy Holly in there.’



The Michigan native really caught the songwriter bug while attending the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He became heavily involved in the legendary folk club Canterbury House in its late 60s heyday. Because it was both a coffeehouse and an Episcopal student ministry, the passions that still guide his life and work hit him at once.



After college, Franke briefly flirted with joining the Episcopal priesthood, spending a long, awful year studying at a Cambridge divinity school. Its only upside was that it moved him and his wife, Christine, to New England and further convinced him that his future lay in songwriting.



Franke's songs earned him enough attention that he was able to become a full-time performer in 1988. His community-focused, determinedly non-commercial values continue to guide his prolific unconventional career. He has written liturgical services for Epiphany and Good Friday that are regularly performed at churches around the country.



All his songs are fueled by Franke's deep Christian faith and by the real-life lessons folk music has taught him – both from its proud, hard history and from his own 31 years of playing everywhere from grand concert halls to rude street corners. Bob has appeared in concert at coffeehouses, colleges, festivals, bars, streets, homes and churches in 30 states, four Canadian provinces and England. His tours are treasured for their craft and compassion.”

Bob Franke: