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Here is a truly interesting treat: Acoustic blues, executed flawlessly, breathing new life into a 100-year-old art form that remains vital but has been overwhelmed by electric blues.
Blues and jazz, like any language, has an accent and vocabulary, some people have these down better than others. Adam Franklin uses the musical vocabulary of acoustic blues with near perfect inflection. A lifetime of intensive listening and four decades of playing underlie his easy rhythmic excellence, which has led to him backing and playing with US artists such as Del Rey, Steve James and Joe Filisko.
Adam Franklin is a superb exponent of blues and ragtime from a Golden Age of American
music. With a voice that is both powerful and soulful and equally at home on National resonator guitar and mandolin, Adam’s performances are intense, energetic and highly entertaining. He makes his way through the pre-war American songbook, with original songs that sound like they were written 80 years ago. Playing solo, his guitar is a band in a box and the floor is the drum kit.
Adam regularly holds guitar & ukulele workshops during the year, at festivals and while on tour. Calling on a lifetime of listening, four decades of playing and over 30 years teaching experience, Adam uses these workshops to give students the necessary tools and techniques essential to playing early blues styles.
Blues and jazz, like any language, has an accent and vocabulary, some people have these down better than others. Adam Franklin uses the musical vocabulary of acoustic blues with near perfect inflection. A lifetime of intensive listening and four decades of playing underlie his easy rhythmic excellence, which has led to him backing and playing with US artists such as Del Rey, Steve James and Joe Filisko.
Adam Franklin is a superb exponent of blues and ragtime from a Golden Age of American
music. With a voice that is both powerful and soulful and equally at home on National resonator guitar and mandolin, Adam’s performances are intense, energetic and highly entertaining. He makes his way through the pre-war American songbook, with original songs that sound like they were written 80 years ago. Playing solo, his guitar is a band in a box and the floor is the drum kit.
Adam regularly holds guitar & ukulele workshops during the year, at festivals and while on tour. Calling on a lifetime of listening, four decades of playing and over 30 years teaching experience, Adam uses these workshops to give students the necessary tools and techniques essential to playing early blues styles.
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Like most professional musicians, Adam also teaches (guitar, slide guitar, blues & Jazz ukulele & blues mandolin). Fingerstyle Blues, Hot Jazz, Slide guitar, Ragtime are all taught on a weekly basis at home in West Sussex.
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"Adam knows enough about old-style blues to be worth listening to & is irreverent enough to be exciting. He's got the beat, you won't be bored."
Del Rey, USA
"Franklin’s exemplary resonator picking and slide playing demonstrates a dedication to the instrument that would be the envy of some of the legends he emulates"
Record Collector Magazine
"Adam's songs manage to be both old and fresh at the same time Quite an achievement."
Ian Mckenzie, Editor, BiTS magazine.
Read the full review here...
"With intense & deeply felt delivery, Adam plays his heart out."
Catfish Keith, USA
“Superb acoustic blues, well worth checking out!”
Juke Blues Magazine.
“I wholeheartedly recommend this album to fans of down home blues"
Blues in Britain Magazine (9/10 review of ‘112 Guildford St.)
Read the full review here...
“Britain’s best kept secret!”
Steve James, USA
“Man! That guitar was singin’!”
Alvin Youngblood Hart. USA
“Like a cross between Robert Johnson and Joe Strummer!”
Two Rivers Folk Festival, Wales.
“A real pro, he created an instant rapport with the crowd.”
Andy Clarke, The Neptune, Brighton.
"Stunning technique and incredible flair!”
Chepstow Acoustic Music Club.
Del Rey, USA
"Franklin’s exemplary resonator picking and slide playing demonstrates a dedication to the instrument that would be the envy of some of the legends he emulates"
Record Collector Magazine
"Adam's songs manage to be both old and fresh at the same time Quite an achievement."
Ian Mckenzie, Editor, BiTS magazine.
Read the full review here...
"With intense & deeply felt delivery, Adam plays his heart out."
Catfish Keith, USA
“Superb acoustic blues, well worth checking out!”
Juke Blues Magazine.
“I wholeheartedly recommend this album to fans of down home blues"
Blues in Britain Magazine (9/10 review of ‘112 Guildford St.)
Read the full review here...
“Britain’s best kept secret!”
Steve James, USA
“Man! That guitar was singin’!”
Alvin Youngblood Hart. USA
“Like a cross between Robert Johnson and Joe Strummer!”
Two Rivers Folk Festival, Wales.
“A real pro, he created an instant rapport with the crowd.”
Andy Clarke, The Neptune, Brighton.
"Stunning technique and incredible flair!”
Chepstow Acoustic Music Club.
Music Unbuttoned Live Review
One man, two guitars, ukulele takes the audiencs on an amazing road trip around the deep south of America.
Adam Franklin sounds like an authentic blues musician from the 30's and is one of the UK's finest solo roots players. He is an exceptionally accomplished musician who can attack his guitar with great vengeance making it growl like a hound from hell, but also caresses it, making it sing sweetly. Adam plays an array of complex and unique rhythms which he applies to both guitar and ukulele. Watching his right hand attack the strings is mesmerizing. Adam also has a formidable voice which is hugely versatile and he uses it in many different ways. He substitutes trumpets and trombones for his voice, he will sing in harmony with his guitar, shouts, sings and hollers. It was an amazing display of vocal talent.
To complete the package Adam has a relaxed charm, he speaks comfortably with the audience, introducing songs, talking about his life, and even gave the audience a multiple choice of what song should be his next!
Adam Franklin sounds like an authentic blues musician from the 30's and is one of the UK's finest solo roots players. He is an exceptionally accomplished musician who can attack his guitar with great vengeance making it growl like a hound from hell, but also caresses it, making it sing sweetly. Adam plays an array of complex and unique rhythms which he applies to both guitar and ukulele. Watching his right hand attack the strings is mesmerizing. Adam also has a formidable voice which is hugely versatile and he uses it in many different ways. He substitutes trumpets and trombones for his voice, he will sing in harmony with his guitar, shouts, sings and hollers. It was an amazing display of vocal talent.
To complete the package Adam has a relaxed charm, he speaks comfortably with the audience, introducing songs, talking about his life, and even gave the audience a multiple choice of what song should be his next!
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