Keith Franx in 2008 at the 15th annual Bluesfest in Quincy.

As promised, I’m writing about two out of the many area musicians. The first is Keith Franx, native of Minneapolis who came to Quincy to live with his family in 1994. Keith remembers a time in the land of 10,000 lakes when Prince, Soul Asylum and the Replacements were just starting out. “Oh man, Soul Asylum was TERRIBLE back in those early days,” he says.

Holowicki

I have seen Keith play locally a few times. Thursday night was the third. I showed up at a local watering establishment just to listen to Keith.

Keith plays a bluesy, soul type of one-man show guitar while at times playing the harmonica simultaneously. That takes a lot of talent. He is not a lead guitarist though. He‘s a strummer, so he is a in a different league than a BB King. Nevertheless, Keith has written and recorded hundreds of songs. From listening to him, his influences range from Cat Stevens, Van Morrison, Tom Waits, Black Crows and a little bit of Barenaked Ladies — sorry man. Keith pauses between sets to tell a story of his fourth grade crush, his teacher. He was excited when he got to sit next to her a field trip she took them, too. Some movie I had never hear of, “Sounder.” But, most importantly, he told the story of rushing through the airport to have his picture taken with a guy named Taj Majal, who is an American Grammy Award winning blues musician. At the time, he didn’t know who that was.

He also incorporates elements of world music into his music. No, I have not heard that much of him, but members of the audience certainly did. Keith admits that is his REAL influence. I’ll give him that. Keith’s next show is Feb. 3 at Johnny Bang Bang’s.

Next, I will be doing a CD review of a band named Purple Melon, an unsigned band that claims to represent the best of British rock.

Steve Holowicki