Friends, I will be performing a concert at Club Passim with long-time friend Claudia Schmidt on Sunday, August 4. Here is a link to tickets: http://bit.ly/2DIQ2xB

Dear friends.
Folk musician Cindy Kallet will appear at Saturday Night in Marblehead, monthly coffeehouse at the Church of St. Andrew, on Saturday, June 22, at 8 p.m.   Kallet, a singer, guitarist, and songwriter, has taught and performed extensively throughout North America; she has appeared on A Prairie Home Companion and WFMT’s Folkstage. She has recorded eleven albums and published a songbook of original songs. Kallet’s first album, Working on Wings to Fly, was voted one of the Top 100 Folk Albums of the [last] Century by WUMB Boston radio listeners. Her Leave the Cake in the Mailbox—Songs for Parents and Kids Growing Up received the Parents’ Choice Gold Award in 2004. She is also known for her work with Grey Larsen, with Gordon Bok, and with Ellen Epstein and Michael Cicone.   Kallet’s repertoire includes original songs about a wide variety of topics: love lost and found, home, the state of the world, raising children, and even skunks. She love sot share her favorite traditional and contemporary folk songs. In the Boston Globe, Scott Alarik has called Cindy “one of folk music’s most respected songwriters . . . provocative, heartwise, and original” and “a brilliant guitarist.”   For more information about. Cindy Kallet, see http://cindykallet.com/.For more information about Saturday Night in Marblehead, see www.standrewsmhd.org/SNIM.htmlor https://www.facebook.com/satnightinmarblehead.  Doors open at 7:30 p.m.; a $15 donation is requested (payable at the door). The Church of St. Andrew is at 135 Lafayette Street (Route 114) in Marblehead, near the Salem line, and is handicapped accessible.

Concert sponsored by Sailing Into Song House concerts on June 15th at 7:00 in West Newton, MA.

For more information, send email, including your name, to: salingintosong@gmail.com.  Or follow this Link: Bob Franke House Concert June 15th in West Newton, MA

I will be doing an intimate house concert in Encino, CA at the home of old friend Barry O”Neill. Contact Barry at 310-991-3393 or email him at barry.oneill@polisci.ucla.edu with BOB FRANKE in the subject line to reserve a seat and get directions!

I will be playing a free concert at the Harvard Public Library in Harvard, Massachusetts at 7:30. Registration is required. Register by calling 978-456-4114. http://www.harvardpubliclibrary.org/hfoa/programs/hfoa-concert-bob-franke

A really fun New Year’s Eve with many fine acts. I’ll be playing two (different) shows at 6pm and 7pm in the Peggy Brenner room at the public library accompanied by Martin Grosswendt and Buffie Groves. A button will be required.

https://www.rockportnye.org/online-store

House concert 7:30; admission is $20.00

Info and reservations: ccdericksen@gmail.com or 651-274-6604

Bob’s annual concert in Cambridge, MA. https://www.passim.org/live-music/events/bob-franke/

Friends from the Puget Sound Guitar Workshop have set up a concert for me in Bellingham, Washington on Saturday, August 18:

Bellingham Washington House Concert
Saturday August 18, 7 PM
Sliding scale $15 - $25, you decide
All proceeds go to the artist
Reserve early! We have room for 40 and are half full already.
After July 25, call Meg Jobe at 360-318-3778; include names, email, phone numbers and number of seats requested
Pay at the door.

I'm taking advantage of my temporary proximity to Seattle (thanks to my friends at Puget Sound Guitar Workshop) to perform at a house concert on August 12 at 7:30 PM. Details are at http://twopools.org/article/franke/index.html or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/events/777578355964988/

Potluck dinner at 6, concert at 7. Call Chris at 617-678-0745. Limited space.

8pm.  326 Main St, Wakefield, MA.With Deborah Silverstein opening. $20 at the door. http://www.lindentreecoffeehouse.org/february-10-2018-bob-franke-with-deborah-silverstein-800-p-m-20/

Saturday Night in Marblehead will continue its concert series with a January concert by New England songwriter John Schindler. Doors open at 7:30 and the concert begins at 8PM. Admission in $15 at the door. Saturday Night in Marblehead is located at the Church of St. Andrew, 135 Lafayette Street, Route 114 near the Marblehead/Salem town line. 

Originally from Saint Louis Missouri, John Schindler was influenced early on by that town's rhythm and blues and his Oklahoma mother’s singing. This funky start was drastically tempered by a nine-year stint in a Catholic seminary where silence and Gregorian chant were his daily bread. After leaving the brotherhood, and armed only with his vow of poverty, John moved to New England and pursued the path of an itinerant musician, playing in sundry bands and bad barrooms. It was during this time, he realized, that his audience could not understand Latin. John has won both the 2003 Boston Folk Festival Songwriting Contest and the 2006 Rose Garden Coffeehouse Song Contest, John has also been a finalist in many other song contests.

His CD Memory Train was CD of the Week on Chicago’s WFMT’s Midnight Special. His new CD is Two-Step Man.

John lives in Boothbay Harbor ME with his wife, Jane and fat cat, Iko

Concerts at 6:00 and 7:00pm at the Rockport Public Library. Http://rockportnye.org  

Saturday Night in Marblehead will continue its concert series with a December 16 concert by Appalachian singer and songwriter Deborah Silverstein, accompanied by The Band of Erics. Doors open at 7:30 and the concert begins at 8PM. Admission in $15 at the door. Saturday Night in Marblehead is located at the Church of St. Andrew, 135 Lafayette Street, Route 114 near the Marblehead/Salem town line. 

Deborah Silverstein has been a fixture on the Boston area acoustic music scene since the mid-70’s when she was a founding member of the New Harmony Sisterhood Band. Her passion for social justice and her deep Appalachian roots have informed her music  throughout a long and distinguished career, having recorded on the Paredon, Flying Fish, and Smithsonian Folkways labels among others.  She will joined on December 16 by her group The Band of Erics, veterans  of many Bluegrass, Blues and Folk groups.

Eric Kilburn performed extensively around the eastern US as a singer-songwriter in the 1980’s before starting Wellspring Sound in Acton, MA, where he has engineered over 500 albums. Eric picked up the mandolin and dobro in the late 90’s and has worked in various bluegrass, roots, swing, and rockabilly bands ever since.

Eric Levenson has played bass in bluegrass and roots music ensembles for over 40 years, touring across the United States, Canada, and many European countries.  He also works as a theatrical set and lighting designer.  Eric was the co-producer, photographer, and bass player on Deborah’s Around the Next Bend recording project. 

Eric Wells is a veteran of the classic rock and blues-rock club scene and played with the renowned bands: Zachariah, Boston Rockabilly Music Conspiracy, and TH & the Wreckage.  Venturing out on the singer-songwriter circuit with Deborah offers Eric a great opportunity to return to and expand on his acoustic country-based sensitivity and talent.

www.debobiz.com

Bob will be releasing his new CD "Until We Must Part" at a concert at Club Passim in Cambridge, MA, accompanied by the legendary Martin Grosswendt.

https://tickets.passim.org/ordertickets.asp?p=6097&backurl=default.asp

Saturday Night in Marblehead will continue its series with a special September 16 concert by author and superb singer-songwriter Scott Alarik. Doors open at 7:30 and the concert begins at 8pm.

For the past 25 years, Scott Alarik has been arguably the most prolific and influential folk music writer in the country. He covered folk for the Boston Globe, contributed regularly to public radio, including seven years as correspondent for the national news show Here and Now, and wrote for many national magazines, including Sing Out, Billboard, and Performing Songwriter. Both _Deep Community_ ,his nonfiction chronicle of the folk underground, and his novel _Revival_ were published to widespread acclaim. He currently creates and hosts WUMB's weekly "Folktales" program.

The only downside of Scott's success as a writer and radio personality is that too few people (most of whom live in his native midwest) are aware that he is one of the best (and funniest) singer-songwriters performing today. Garrison Keillor wrote of him, “I’ve rarely seen an audience in such a good mood as when he’s just been there.” We are delighted to resume our concert series with his wonderful show.

Saturday Night in Marblehead is located at the Church of St. Andrew, 135 Lafayette St. in Marblehead, just over the Marblehead line from Salem State College.

Bob will be performing for Two Pools House Concerts in Seattle. Email sfsmarn@gmail.com for details and reservations, or inquire on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/TwoPoolsHouseConcerts.

Saturday Night in Marblehead will continue its series with a special June 17 concert by its founder, Bob Franke. Opening for Bob will be the wonderful young songwriter Lincoln Gray. Doors open at 7:30 pm and the show begins at 8. Saturday Night in Marblehead is located at the Church of St. Andrew, 135 Lafayette Street in Marblehead, near the Salem line. Tickets are $15 at the door.  

Bob Franke's songs have travelled all over the English speaking world. They have been recorded and/or performed by Peter, Paul, and Mary; John McCutcheon; Kathy Mattea; June Tabor; Lui Collins; Claudia Schmidt; and a host of others. Some have been published in Episcopal, Quaker, and Mennonite hymnals. Bob himself has performed them in 35 states and 4 Canadian provinces. He has toured England twice. His latest international concert occurred in 2014, 18 stories beneath the streets of Moscow as guest artist with Chamber Orchestra Kremlin in a Cold War bunker converted into a music hall.  Http://www.bobfranke.com  

Lincoln Gray is a delightful young writer and performer of songs with insightful humor for both children and adults. Https://soundcloud.com/lincoln-gray

Saturday Night in Marblehead will present Fishken and Groves in concert at the Church of St. Andrew, 135 Lafayette St. in Marblehead, MA. Doors open at 7:30 and the concert begins at 8pm. Requested donation is $15 at the door.

David Fishken and Ellen "Buffie" Groves are a folk-country-cowboy double guitar "gent and lady duet" widely known and loved in the greater Boston area. They offer a traditional sound with a unique harmony style, as well as humor reminiscent of George Burns and Gracie Allen (hint: Fishken takes the role of Gracie). You'll be singing and yodeling along.

https://www.facebook.com/FishkenandGroves/

On Good Friday night at 8pm, the Church of St. Andrew, 135 Lafayette St. in Marblehead, MA will present Bob's Good Friday cantata, "Meditations on the Passion." Donations will be accepted but will not be collected at the door--the work is the church's gift to the surrounding community. The cantata was first created and performed in 1980, and has been performed at St. Andrew's nearly every year since then. This year's participants will include Reggie Harris, Sally Rogers, Doug Johnson, Carolyn Waters, Geoff Bartley, Chuck Hall, Howie Bursen, Anne Hills. Kate Katzberg, Kim Wallach, Paul Combs, Joshua Levin-Epstein, and John Kirk.

Bob writes: “Many friends from the music world as well as many fine singers from the parish have been with the production throughout its lifetime. You will find the names of various cast members and musicians over the years on some of the finest recordings and writing in the classical, pop, folk and jazz worlds. Although the story we retell here is at the core of Christianity, it is not necessarily about being a Christian. It’s about being human in the presence of the Divine, and it’s about the presence of Redemption in the midst of the most horrific and tragic dimensions of the human condition.”

Bob performs at the Me & Thee Coffeehouse, 28 Mugford St. in Marblehead, MA. Concert begins at 8pm. Aaron Nathans and Michael G. Ronstadt open. You can buy tickets here.

Renowned country blues and Americana musician and W.C. Handy award nominee Martin Grosswendt will perform on Saturday, January 21 at Saturday Night in Marblehead at the Church of St. Andrew, 135 Lafayette St., Marblehead, MA. Doors open at 7:30 and the music begins at 8pm. Admission is $15 at the door.

Saturday Night in Marblehead presents Sally Rogers and Howie Bursen at the Church of St. Andrew, 135 Lafayette St., Marblehead, MA. Doors open at 7:30pm, concert at 8. $15 at the door.

Sally Rogers has had a long and greatly honored career touring the US, Canada and Europe, and has created many wonderful recordings accompanied by her dulcimer and guitar, most recently with Claudia Schmidt. Her husband, winemaker Howard Bursen, is a near-legendary clawhammer banjo virtuoso. Together they make the kind of music of which only long time partners are capable. We are delighted to present them both.

Bob will be performing at 8pm at Club Passim, 47 Palmer St., Cambridge, MA. You can buy tickets here .