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UPCOMING SHOWS
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Dearborn Homecoming
Dearborn, MI 4-5pm
www.dearborngov.org
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Birmingham Concert Series
Booth Park--7pm
(Old Woodward north of Maple)
Birmingham, MI
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Livonia City Hall 7pm
Livonia, MI
Saturday September 5, 2009
6PM
Arts, Beats & Eats
Pontiac, MI
National Stage, before Joan Jett
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Stone Pony -- 8pm
Asbury Park, NJ
Springsteen Symposium
http://www.cpe.vt.edu/glorydays/
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Solo appearance
Mama's Coffeehouse Series
Birmingham Unitarian Church
38651 Woodward Ave. Bloomfield Hills, MI 48304. Phone: 248.647.2380.
8pm $15
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Pit & Balcony Theater
Saginaw, MI
Johnny Krogman CD Release
"Sling That Mud"
7pm $15
LICENSING
FOR FILM & TV
Tracks can be licensed for film, TV, Video games, CD-Rom and live presentations.
Learn more about licensing
"Stewart Francke is the best songwriter I’ve heard in 20 years." - Mick
Taylor, legendary guitarist & former member of The Rolling Stones.
"Returning to the warm healing waters of "Lets get It On" era Marvin
Gaye, genre hopper Francke restores faith in the much besmirched world
of blue-eyed soul... genuinely
life affirming. Looking for a
real soul
revival? Don't look
any further." — Gavin Martin, Uncut
DISTRIBUTION LINKS
Burnside Distribution
CDBaby
iTunes
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 Welcome
"Standing courageously at the intersection of rock and soul music, influenced equally by Marvin Gaye and Brian Wilson, Stewart Francke possesses all the tools: A sweet voice, a vision that’s grand without being grandiose and undying love of sound for its own sake, and an equally passionate engagement with everyday life and the people who live it. This music isn’t classic anything only because, like every real artist, Francke takes the world as he knows it and moves on his own course."
- Dave Marsh, America’s most widely read music writer
“Yea, I’ve heard Stewart...he makes beautiful music.” – Bruce Springsteen.
Current News
 
October 15 -- Press Release from Third Thursday Roundtable:
Stewart Francke, Detroit's beloved blue eyed soul singer and songwriter shares his insights!
Location: Club Venetian Banquet Center
Time:11:30AM Thursday, October 15thAnyone & Everyone is welcome!
October 7 --
On October 17, MAMA's Coffeehouse, a nonprofit, acoustic music concert
series in Birmingham, will host a benefit concert for the Leukemia
& Lymphoma Society in honor of two local women who recently lost
their battles with cancer. Headlining will be Stewart Francke, who is
an 11-year leukemia survivor.
The concert is in memory of Denise Marie Stein of St. Clair Shores and
Pamela Campau of Pinckney. Both of these women appeared on the recent
benefit CD for LLS and have passed away from cancer since the project
was released earlier this year. In addition to Francke, the show will
feature Josh White Jr, Matt Watroba and Floyd King & the
Bushwackers.
Sep 26 & 27 -- Stewart Francke and his full band will play their first mini-tour of the east coast, performing at the famed Stone Pony in Asbury Park on Saturday 9/26 at 8pm as part of the Bruce Springsteen Symposium at Monmouth College. On Sunday, 9/27, Stewart will appear on Dave Marsh's Sirius show Kick Out The Jams, airing on Sirius Channel 29 at 10am. "It's an honor to be a part of this with other artists I love, like Willie Nile and Joe Grushecky," Stewart says. "And it'll be cool to play a historic joint like The Pony."
Aug 13 - Stewart Francke to play 2009 Arts Beats & Eats Festival, Labor Day weekend. Stewart and his band will be performing on Saturday, September 5 at 6pm. He is again one of this event's headliners, performing on the national stage before lauded rocker Joan Jett. Says Francke: "Arts, Beats & Eats is one of our fans' favorite places to catch a show and we're happy to be helping out during this tough economic times for everyone. I love playing out there."
July 27 -- Stewart recently produced a new cd for veteran Saginaw rocker Johnny Krogman. Titled Sling That Mud, the cd will be released in September by Blue Boundary Records and distributed worldwide by Burnside Distribution and digitally by IODA. Recorded in just a week at Tempermill Studio with Bettye LaVette's band (Darryl Pierce, Chuck Bartels, Brett Lucas), Sling That Mud is highlighted by Krogman's bluesy voice and detailed, haunting songs. Stewart produced and contributed a new song, "The Sinatra Hours." He says: "Johnny Krogman inspired me to play guitar and sing when I was a kid--he was a couple years ahead of me in school and was already giggin'. While I can't repay that great gift, I was thrilled to work with him on his songs. He's an original rock & roller and should be thought of alongside all the great Michigan artists we know of. This is just the first of many records from him I hope."
May 19 -Stewart signs on as a columnist for Detroit's new online newspaper: yournewsdetroit.com. Stewart's weekly column will concern itself with popular culture, life in Detroit, and cancer care. "I love the inclusive community approach of yournews.com," Francke says, "and (yournewsdetroit publisher) Jimmy Risk & I have been friends for many years and I believe in him and his vision for this. I'm excited to write a column again in Detroit."
May 7 - Stewart Francke receives All Area Arts Award Lifetime Achievement Award at the Dow Event Center in Saginaw, Michigan. Click here to read acceptance speech from the event
April 17 - This
new interview, conducted by Review Magazine's Robert Martin, is the
fourth time in their 25 year history that the two Saginaw natives have
sat down together for a lengthy, all-encompassing interview.
Instigating this latest conversation is the May 7 Saginaw Arts
Commission Award Ceremony honoring Stewart Francke with a Special 20th
Anniversary Arts Award for his music. This interview will appear in the
April 22, 2009 issue of Review.
New Q&A: Stewart Francke with Robert Martin, Review MagazineApril 7 - New radio interview: Mike Stark interviews Stewart Francke in Los Angeles for WPMD.org. Listen via this link: http://www.rock50.com
Stewart Francke will receive 20th Anniversary Lifetime Achievement Arts Award from his hometown of Saginaw on May 7.
April 2 - Stewart Francke honored by the Saginaw Arts & Enrichment Commission for his "passion for music and the joy his songs bring to so many in his home state and beyond." The All Area Arts Award ceremony will be held at the Dow Event Center on May 7, 2009 at 6:30. The event is open to the public; call 989 759-1496 for ticket information.
March 30 - Stewart Francke nominated as Best Songwriter in 2009 Detroit Music Awards. The DMA will be at the FIllmore on April 16.
March 12 - Stewart signs Publishing Administration deal with England's Open Times Music. Headed by Pete McGlinchey, former head of Sony/ATV and Dick James Music, OTM will handle all admin duties on Stewart Francke's song catalogue of more than 100 songs. OTM is based in East Sussex, UK.
March 10 - Stewart Francke and his band have been asked to perform in September at the famed Stone Pony in Asbury Park, NJ, as part of the 2nd Bruce Springsteen Symposium, September 24-27. Stewart will join east coast greats and Springsteen favorites Joe Grushecky, Jesse Malin and Gaslight Anthem. Other dates in NYC and Philly will follow for a brief East Coast fall tour.
February 27 - Several of Stewart's instrumental tracks have been licensed by MTV for a new reality series. More details to come as production ensues.
February 25 - Stewart Francke is named Grand Marshall of the Assembly Line Concert, a marathon 240 hour live music show intended to raise money and awareness about the plight of the Big Three Auto Companies and their workers. Stewart's "That's The Way We Do It In Detroit" is chosen as the event's theme song, and he will perform it at the concert's opening with the Downtown Y Deep River Choir. The Assembly Line Concert is the creation of activist and entrepreneur AJ O'Neil, and will be held at AJ's Cafe in Ferndale, MI from March 20-April 1.
January/February 2009 - Stewart records his own version of The Beatles' "And Your Bird Can Sing" for a Garage Band compilation on Collectibles Records called Garage Band Beatles. The cd will be released in Summer '09. Several new tracks are also recorded with Detroit session greats Darryl Pierce and Chuck Bartels (of Bettye LaVette's band), to be compiled for a new Stewart Francke cd scheduled for a fall 2009 release.
"Thank God for Stewart Francke. Thank God for his feeling, healing
music, for the sweetness of his soul, the sincerity of his songs, the
strength of his vision. WHEEL OF LIFE is enriching, nourishing music --
music as faith, music as celebration, music whose source is clear and
joyful love." - David Ritz, author of Ray, the Ray Charles Story and
Divided Soul: The Marvin Gaye Story
What I'm Trying To Do
Welcome to the new website. Return as often as you'd like, as we'll keep it updated with news, photos, appearance dates, free and unreleased music, and new writing in the Journal section. Make it a home for yourself as well--for your own photos, comments on my songs, or a note about a live show. I hope you learn about each other while you’re here, checkin’ out my music.
A critic somewhere once described what I’m doing musically as sounding like “Jackson and James Brown(e) were brothers.” While I’m not sure if I belong in their exalted company, it’s an accurate assessment--I am trying to combine a narrative lyrical approach with the rhythmic elements of soul and funk. But labels are often worthless when it comes to music, where literally everything you see and hear, from a cicada’s buzz to a young child’s yell to a song on the radio, influences what you may write or sing next. Since I’m as much a singer as I am a songwriter, I’m always trying to write melodies that are fresh and interesting to sing.
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New Reviews for "Alive and Unplugged"
This live set was recorded at Ann Arbor's The Ark, and Francke lives in Huntington Woods, Mich., so there's a strong regional connection. Let that link be reason enough to check this out if you are unfamiliar with Francke's music, because even a cursory listen will be enough to impress on you that he is an original talent deserving of national exposure. His songs rock or can be reflective; his lyrics are thoughtful and smart. He sounds at ease on stage, too, chatting amiably with the audience between some of the songs, offering background that enhances our understanding of those tracks and reinforces the listener-singer connection. With a band that, despite the "unplugged" in the title, regularly rocks out and locks into tight grooves - especially on the hot "House of Lights" - plus backing singers and horns, Francke proves himself a capable frontman, his voice having the range and adaptability to match the material. "Alive," which is due for release Tuesday, opens to the hard-charging and socially conscious "American Twilights" and rocks again on "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang." But Francke quiets things down on "The Judas Kiss" and "Peace Like A River" with its soulful chorus. And he offers a wonderful slice-of-life homage to garage bands on "Two Guitars, Bass & Drums," with his vocals given a retro quality that nails the tenor of the song. He closes out with a brief but great version of Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On," and it's just the right song to end the disc, suggesting the soul that is inherent in much of Francke's own music, and also linking the earlier days of Motown with Francke's contemporary sound.
- RICHARD PATON, Toledo Blade, reviewing the new Live and Unplugged CD
“That’s The Way We Do It In Detroit,” (a/k/a “The Auto Trade”) Stewart Francke (www.stewartfrancke.com) – A statement of faith and purpose from a great music man in a great music community, as well as a somber meditation upon the destruction of Francke’s home, his town, his life, his family’s stability, his country’s prosperity. One of the first great songs from the New Depression. (Don’t miss the companion piece, a gorgeous white soul rendition of the Beatles’ “And Your Bird Can Sing.”) -- Rock'n'Rap Confidential
DOWNLOAD FREE TRACK - That's The Way We Do It In Detroit
This song was initially called "The Auto Trade," about my own memories of growing up in the car business, but with the matters at hand regarding the survival of the Big 3 (and in effect our very area), I'm now simple calling it, as a point of pride, "That's The Way We Do It In Detroit." I guess this song is both a protest song and love song (toward the city) about the current criticism of Detroit's 100 year work ethic by a buncha political weasels who wouldn't know a work callus if it suddenly appeared on their forehead. This song is in protest to the ignorant derision toward Detroit, and a statement of pride in my city. I grew up in the car business, as did my father and his brothers; I worked in Steering Gear factories before I was able to earn a living as a musician. Use this song as you’d like--I hope we use it as an anthem for positivity ; I hope we use it as a statement about where we've been and where we're going--a comeback anthem for Detroit and Southeastern Michigan.
DOWNLOAD FREE TRACK #2 - And Your Bird Can Sing
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The Music
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