Artist:Neal Francis
Song:Can't Stop the Rain
Album:In Plain Sight
Neal Francis is an R&B influenced singer songwriter who has had success in the Adult Alternative market. He hasn't had any hit singles and fortunately he's on a record label that doesn't require hit singles. He was born Neal Francis O'Hara Sept. 4, 1988 in Livingston, NJ. But he grew up in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park, IL. He learned piano by mimicking sounds he heard on TV. Then he took classical piano lessons followed by lessons from boogie woogie pianist Erwin Helfer. He had a band in high school called Reverend Funk Connection and he sat in at Chicago blues clubs. After briefly attending college, Francis continued to play clubs most notably with Muddy Waters' son Larry "Mud" Morganfield. He joined the band The Heard and got fired when drank too much. After getting sober, he recorded his debut solo album Changes and released it on the indie label Karma Chief in 2019. The album was praised by critics and that led to Francis signing with Dave Matthews' label ATO Records. Matthews is not looking for hit singles and that's good for the kind of music that Francis wants to record. Can't Stop the Rain was the first single from the 2022 album In Plain Sight. Francis wrote all the songs. And the album was produced by guitarist and recording engineer Sergio Rios who produced Francis' first album. Musicians were Kellen Boersma on guitar, Mike Starr on bass and Collin O'Brien on drums. This was Francis' band at the time. Derek Trucks played the slide guitar solo on Can't Stop the Rain. This album is available as a budget CD. Francis released his latest album Return to Zero last year. He is working with the same musicians. He is currently on tour until November. So if you like his music remember there is no pressure on him to go mainstream. Here's the video for Can't Stop the Rain by Neal Francis.
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