Here’s another authentic song, written by Bob in the early 1980’s, in Oakland, California. Every word in it is the gospel truth, so help me Santa Claus. This video was recorded at the Otherlands, in Memphis, Tennessee, in 2015. Not for the faint of heart.
Here’s the latest hit single from the same guy that brought you the Little Gest of Robin Hood and other classic sagas of the working man — this one was produced by the incomparable John Murry (the same as co-conspired with Bob on the murder ballads CD, World Without End). John also put an awesome backup vocal on this baby. Recorded at Tim Mooney’s Closer Recording in San Francisco back in 2009-10, it’s actually one track off an album that has never been released yet.
What’s that? Oh, I thought you said something.
Buy it here, or here, or here. Take your pick.
Listen to it first, see if you like it: Love Turns the Wheel
Chuck Giamalvo, Bob’s friend and co-writer down in Arizona, produced this CD of Bob singing 12 songs that he and Chuck wrote over the past few years. They recorded it in Chuck’s studio in Tolleson, with some local Arizona pickers and the Arizona Angels, two ladies from Phoenix that put some heavenly harmonies on it.
The songs are a good mix of different styles and stories, from riverboat gamblers and truck drivers to lonesome lovers and one old guy who lost everything he had, but saved his heart for her. Bob usually writes story songs, like old cowboy songs or folk music, and Chuck usually writes classic country music like was popular back in the ’60’s, so as Chuck says in the liner notes, they have come up with some material here that neither one of them would have written on their own.
It’s available right now on cdbaby, or you can get it direct from Bob! Or you can get it right here! Don’t push, don’t shove, there’s plenty here for one and all!
Sample: Riverboat Gambler
The lyrics of this song were written on the battlefield by Dylan Hartsfeld, a soldier from North Carolina who served two tours, one in Iraq and one in Afghanistan, and then came home and got murdered by a cop in his own back yard.
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Here’s one about Jackpine Mary, the legendary cowgirl from Williams Lake, B.C., on her wild ride through the aspens, when a grizzly bear was chasing her.
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The whole live show is now available from Tall Cotton Productions. Filmed by Jeffery Haas of Deep Freeze Films, it’s the only live video of Bob anyone has ever seen yet.
Bob is in Arizona even as we speak, working on another CD at Barbara’s Place, in Tolleson. This one will be another collection of nothing but Bob Frank songs, but a couple of them are co-writes, such as the beautiful border ballad, Anna Maria, which Bob co-wrote with Paul Compton, in Memphis. Produced by Chuck Giamalvo, it should be out in a couple of months.
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Here’s some strong praise for Bob’s songs and CD’s, written by Roy Peak, a remarkable songwriter himself:
https://www.facebook.com/kingtutvintagealbumandcassettemuseumofjacksonville/posts/642292432639698:0
https://www.facebook.com/kingtutvintagealbumandcassettemuseumofjacksonville/posts/465443193657957:0
https://www.facebook.com/kingtutvintagealbumandcassettemuseumofjacksonville/posts/407095996159344:0
Bob has a new CD out now, Twilight in Tolleson. This one is a collection of 12 songs that Bob co-wrote with Chuck Giamalvo, in Tolleson, Arizona. Chuck produced it, and it’s a totally different sound for Bob than you’ve heard on any of his other CD’s. The songs are different from what Bob usually writes, more straight up country and pop from a timeless place. His guitar and vocals are super strong on this one. The accompaniment is just right, toned down, laid back, no wasted licks, no unnecessary shenanigans. Just good, tasty music. Buy it now from cdbaby.com, or order it direct from Bob.
Dec. 22, 2015 — Live interview with Bob by John Braughton, on “Retrospectives,” 3SER Casey Radio, 97.7 FM, in Melbourne, Australia. Here’s the raw, unedited version.
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See raw footage of Bob, captured live, high on the bluff overlooking the Mississippi River! “Live at 9,” Channel 3, Memphis.
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Bob’s Vanguard album is included in this collection of “50 Classic LP’s recorded in Gnashville” back in the day.
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Light in the Attic has finally released the first-ever reissue of Bob’s 1972 Vanguard album, Bob Frank. Check out this review in Record Collector. And don’t miss these interviews on The Bay Bridged and Read and Hear.
Send Bob an email to bob@bobfranksongs.com and tell him which ones you want.
Reissued on Light in the Attic records, in vinyl as well as CD. Don’t wait! Buy it now, or your children will reproach you in later life for such an uncalled for lack in their education!“Awesome down home Southern Fried Acid Folky Blues stoner vibe rarity, ‘She Pawned Her Diamond for some Gold’ tells the story of the girl who smoked her last bowl, and penniless needed s’more, so she… Killer. Really scarce LP and brings a $100 in circles, dig??? I thought you did.” — description of Vanguard album being auctioned off on ebay.
A collector’s item, this is the record that created a cult following all over the world.
This album has been reissued on Light in the Attic, a prestigious label that if you don’t know about, you should check it out right now!
Sample: She Pawned Her Diamond for Some Gold.
Here’s how Bob looked when he played this song at the Arkansas Folk Festival in 1973. You can’t see his feet in this photo. Too bad, cause he’s not wearing any shoes. The original barefoot hippie, he threw away his shoes in 1969, and never got another pair til sometime in the ’70’s.
“… a counterculture confederate with a capital C whose ribald songs mixed folk balladry, sex, an outlaw social conscience and really good drugs. That he took about 30 years to follow it up says less about his talent than his inability to suffer the music biz gladly.” — J.R., Nashville Scene
“… an outlaw songwriter’s outlaw songwriter, a Vietnam veteran …tougher than Kristofferson and more spry than Cash, an often-jolly light in typically dark corners.” — Grayson Haver Currin, Pitchfork
Sample: “Judas Iscariot”
You’ve heard of death metal; well, this here is death country-folk, and a more gruesome collection of songs you will not hear this or any other year. Bob Frank is a California-based, 62-year-old, late-blooming maverick roots singer-songwriter who once played with the likes of Townes Van Zandt; he has teamed up with John Murry to make a “murder ballads album,” but instead of revisiting the familiar catalogue of traditional tunes, they’ve written 10 of their own, based on actual events, and notably shorn of any moral tone. This makes grim if compelling listening — murder, rape, pillage, nooses, knives and mayhem — from the story of Little Wiley Harpe in 1805, to Bubba Rose’s dark deeds in 1961. The music is suitably sepia-toned, hushed vocals cowled in a gaunt mesh of steel guitar and evocative picking. Not easy to like but impossible to ignore. — Joe Breen, Irish Times. sample: Joaquin Murietta, 1853
Sample: Just to Be With You
Bob Frank and John Murry, two Southern ex-pats (the former hailing from Memphis, Tennessee, and Murry being from Tupelo, Mississippi) living in the San Francisco Bay Area and separated by nearly a forty year age difference, have created a more-than-worthy follow-up to their critically acclaimed 2006 release, “World Without End”. That release was a gruesome collection of true murder ballads, co-written by Frank and Murry and hailed by critics worldwide as a both timeless and timely meditation on death, destruction, and American violence. Perhaps, then, it follows naturally (or at least “naturally” according to Frank and Murry) that their newest record, “Brinkley, Ark. and Other Assorted Love Songs”, though very much a departure aesthetically, focuses just as heavily on loss; this time, not the loss of life but of lost love and of longing.
Dubbed “redneck soul” by Frank, Murry, and their long-time producer Tim Mooney, the album is filled with Memphis horns, Muscle Shoals rhythms, Mississippi gospel organ, and fiery Southern Rock-influenced guitar work that encapsulates the strong and emotionally honest songwriting of Frank and Murry.
The songs themselves span nearly forty years, with some having been written by Frank immediately after his tour of duty in Vietnam. Creating the record was an idea that occurred to Murry when he was staying at Bob’s house and found a box of old reel to reel demo tapes. He was staying at Bob’s house at the time because he had separated from his wife and, in the midst of the heartache, found refuge in Bob’s forgotten songs. These songs inspired John to write his own, and the resulting record is a seamless mixture of Frank and Murry’s songs, chronicling the heartbreak of love lost.
