Quick Q and A with Bob Franke
 by Kathy S-B  ·  2 April 2010

Bob Franke has been a mainstay in the greater Boston area for over three decades. So many of Bob’s songs are considered classics: “Hard Love,” “For Real,” and “Alleulia, the Great Storm is Over” come immediately to mind. Bob’s gentle and reassuring voice and his ability to convey profound ideas in his lyrics make him the ultimate singer-songwriter. To learn more about Bob Franke, go to his website. Here’s a video of Bob singing “Hard Love.”

Okay, let’s start off with the headier questions: Your biography says that you started off to become a priest but you got diverted along the way and became a singer/songwriter. Do you ever think about what your life would be like if you traveled the other road?

I think about it from time to time. I’ve known and loved a number of Episcopal priests in my life. In some ways it may have been easier to become one. But the Diocese of Massachusetts had a bishop a while back who shot himself at retirement, and my life could have gone in that direction had I not been honest with myself at a certain point in my life.

Your lyrics are some of the most honest and soul baring I’ve ever heard and I’m sure that your fans have probably told you how much your songs have resonated with you. For me, it’s “For Real.” The visual and aural images of having a neighbor who has lost her husband who plays a tape with his voice on it that you hear through the window at night send chills throughout my entire being every time I hear the song. Yes, it’s one of those songs that struck a chord with me even though I have never experienced anything close to that experience. But the core of the human experience is powerful and I want to thank you for that song.

Thanks.

Your songs have been covered by some terrific artists like John McCutcheon, David Wilcox, Lui Collins, Peter, Paul and Mary, etc. Do you have any favorites?

I love all those brilliant artists and am grateful for their support, and I suppose that the politic thing would be to say that I don’t have a favorite, but I have to say that June Tabor’s version of “Hard Love” showed me things I didn’t know were there.

I love reading MySpace “sounds like” designations and yours says “himself, at long last.” You’ve been at this for a long time. Do you have any recollection about when you really feel like it was all coming together and you were who you were destined to be?

I don’t recall that moment, maybe because I’m still evolving as an artist. But I do recall the moment at a Kerrville Folk Festival when I realized I’d morphed from a Young Turk into an Elder Statesman without passing go or collecting my $200, and wondering how that happened. A quite brilliant colleague told me at that point that “One Evening in Chicago” had inspired him for years. Uh, oh.

I have to say that my favorite quote about you is the one from Tom Paxton in which he said: “It’s his integrity. I always think of Bob as if Emerson and Thoreau had picked up acoustic guitars and gotten into songwriting. There’s touches of Mark Twain and Buddy Holly in there, too.” To me—-this wraps you up so perfectly. You have all the profound thoughts of everyone’s favorite Transcendentalists, Emerson and Thoreau, yet you add the wit of Twain and the beat and bop of Holly. I would die happy if anyone ever said that about me! Kudos! If you had only one song of yours to leave to future generations, which one would it be?

Probably my latest, “My Next Drink,” because I’m hoping it will be useful to people.

Okay, just for a little levity and to end this interview: Beatles or Stones?

Beatles. All in all, I think they did a better job both as musicians and megastars.