“Music that should make Dr. John and Allen Toussaint smile from the great beyond – impossibly catchy, church-organ injected, buttoned-up funk.”
– RELIX
“What do Dr. John, Leon Russell and boogie woogie piano have in common?
Neal Francis is the answer.”
– KCRW
Chicago-based singer-songwriter-pianist Neal Francis has shared a stirring live performance of his new single, “Alameda Apartments.” Filmed at SHIRK Studios in Chicago, IL with backing from Francis’s crack touring band, “Alameda Apartments [Live]” premieres today at YouTube.
WATCH “ALAMEDA APARTMENTS [LIVE]”
The original studio version of “Alameda Apartments” arrived last month alongside an official companion video – filmed on VHS in the church where Francis lived, wrote, and recorded his eagerly anticipated new album. “Alameda Apartments” precedes Francis’s upcoming second LP, In Plain Sight, mixed by GRAMMY® Award winner Dave Fridmann (The Flaming Lips, Tame Impala, MGMT) and due via ATO Records on vinyl, CD, and digital formats on Friday, November 5. Pre-orders are available now. In addition, a brand new range of limited edition In Plain Sight merch – including signed cherry red vinyl, signed CDs, signed posters, t-shirts, button bundles, and more.
“I started writing ‘Alameda Apartments’ maybe six years ago, before I got sober,” Francis says. “I was going through another breakup and getting kicked out of my place, and I had a nightmare about moving into an art-deco apartment that was haunted, where the walls were all shifting around. The craziest thing is that I’d never encountered the name ‘Alameda’ at any time in my life prior to that dream. It’s bizarre that I even remembered it, especially since you don’t dream very often when you’re getting fucked up.”
WATCH “ALAMEDA APARTMENTS (OFFICIAL VHS VIDEO)”
In Plain Sight was first heralded this summer with the lead single, “Can’t Stop The Rain,” featuring GRAMMY® Award-winning guitarist Derek Trucks and hailed in its world premiere on KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic as “an invigorating heat wave banger… hits with an unapologetically joyful, electric feel that makes for just the jolt to the system we needed.” The track – which quickly ascended to #1 Most Added at Triple A and Non-Commercial Radio outlets nationwide – is joined by an official music video, streaming now; an electrifying live version, filmed at Chicago’s SHIRK Studios and showcasing Francis and his band’s infectious on-stage energy, can be viewed now as well.
WATCH “CAN’T STOP THE RAIN (OFFICIAL VIDEO)”
WATCH “CAN’T STOP THE RAIN (OFFICIAL LIVE SESSION)”
After returning home from touring on the back of his widely lauded 2019 debut album, Changes, Neal Francis went through a painful breakup and found himself living in a possibly haunted church where he ended up writing a series of inspired new songs exploring honesty and resilience. Working once again with producer Sergio Rios (a guitarist/engineer known for his work with CeeLo Green and Alicia Keys), Francis and his bandmates recorded In Plain Sight entirely on tape – mostly in that same church – and the resulting songs are dreamlike and reflective, anchored in the analog rock and soul sound that has seen him hailed by PopMatters for “(embodying) the spirit of classic New Orleans artists such as Dr. John, the Meters, Allen Toussaint as well as the deep and mysterious roots music of Leon Russell.”
“I’m owning up to all my problems within my relationships and my sobriety,” Francis says. “So much of it is about coming to the understanding that I continue to suffer because of those problems. It’s about acknowledging that and putting it out in the open in order to mitigate the suffering and try to work on it, instead of trying to hide everything.”
Francis is currently celebrating In Plain Sight with a truly epic North American tour, highlighted by headline dates, shows supporting Black Pumas and My Morning Jacket, and festival appearances including Atlanta, GA’s Shaky Knees (Saturday, October 23), Live Oak, FL’s Suwannee Hulaween (Friday, October 29), San Francisco, CA’s Outside Lands (Sunday, October 31), and Wilco’s sold out Sky Blue Sky, a curated concert vacation set for January 17-21, 2022 at Mexico’s Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya. From there, Francis will cross the Atlantic for a much anticipated European/UK tour, making stops in London, the Netherlands, Germany, France, and Belgium in early 2022. Additional dates will be announced. For complete details and ticket availability, please visit www.nealfrancis.com/tour.
NEAL FRANCIS
ON TOUR 2021-2022
OCTOBER
7 – Memphis, TN – Railgarten
8 – New Orleans, LA – The Parish Room at House of Blues New Orleans
9 – New Orleans, LA – Tipitina's (SOLD OUT)
15 – Madison, WI – The Sylvee *
16 – Grand Rapids, MI – 20 Monroe Live *
20 – Raleigh, NC – Lincoln Theatre
21 – Greensboro, NC – The Blind Tiger
22 – Atlanta, GA – Purgatory at The Masquerade (Shaky Knees Aftershow)
23 – Atlanta, GA – Shaky Knees †
24 – Charleston, SC – The Charleston Pour House
27 – Wilmington, DE – Bourgie Nights
28 – Asheville, NC – The Grey Eagle
29 – Live Oak, FL – Suwannee Hulaween †
31 – San Francisco, CA – Outside Lands † (SOLD OUT)
NOVEMBER
4 – Detroit, MI – El Club
6 – Urbana, IL – Canopy Club
11 – Cincinnati, OH – Ballroom at Taft Theatre
12 – Peoria, IL – Kenny’s Westside Pub
13 – Milwaukee, WI – The Back Room at Colectivo Coffee
18 – St. Louis, MO – Old Rock House
19 – Louisville, KY – Headliners Music Hall
20 – Indianapolis, IN – Hi-Fi
8 – Austin, TX – Antone’s Nightclub
9 – Austin, TX – Antone’s Nightclub
10 – Houston, TX – The Heights Theater
11 – Tyler, TX – Stanley’s Famous Pit Barbecue
12 – Dallas TX – The Kessler Theater
29 – Denver, CO – The Mission Ballroom **
31 – Denver, CO – Globe Hall
DECEMBER
3 – Lawrence, KS – The Bottleneck
4 – Columbia, MO – Rose Music Hall
5 – Oklahoma City, OK – Ponyboy
JANUARY 2022
5 – Los Angeles, CA – Teragram Ballroom
8 – Portland, OR – Doug Fir Lounge
9 – Seattle, WA – The Crocodile
12 – Minneapolis, MN - 7th Street Entry
13 – Madison, WI – High Noon Saloon
14 – Chicago, IL – Thalia Hall
17-21 – Wilco’s Sky Blue Sky – Puerto Aventuras, MX † (SOLD OUT)
23 – London, UK – O2 Academy2 Islington
25 – Nijmegen, NL – Merleyn
26 – Groningen, NL – Vera
27 – Amsterdam, NL – Bitterzoet
28 – Hengelo, NL – Metropool
29 – Utrecht, NL – TivoliVredenburg
30 – Rotterdam, NL – Bird
31 – Haldern, DE – Haldern Pop Bar
FEBRUARY 2022
1 – Berlin, DE – Privatclub
2 – Hamburg, DE – Häkken
4 – Paris, FR – New Morning
5 – Beauvais, FR – L’Ouvre Boite
6 – Leffinge, BE – De Zwerver
25 – Nashville, TN – Basement East
AUGUST 2022
26-28 – Tisbury, MA – Beach Road Weekend †
* w/Black Pumas
** w/My Morning Jacket
† Festival Appearance
Additional Dates To Be Announced
# # #
Neal Francis has been making music at the piano since the age of four, naming everything from ragtime and gospel soul to The Who and Led Zeppelin among his formative influences. The prodigiously gifted young musician began sitting in with countless Chicago blues acts as a teenager, helming the popular instrumental funk band The Heard before finally going setting out on his own solo career. Released in 2019, Changes swiftly drew lavish acclaim – including a glowing review from music industry icon Bob Lefsetz, who declared, “THIS IS THE FUTURE OF THE MUSIC BUSINESS!” – and soon led to such triumphs as a killer KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic session, sharing the stage with members of The Meters at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, and tours alongside such like-minded acts as Lee Fields & The Expressions and Black Pumas. More recently, Francis lit up Lollapalooza 2021 with a hometown performance applauded by the Chicago Sun-Times as “a time-stamped treasure… there are hints of ‘70s Brit Rock (including a very visceral touch of Elton John) as well as New Orleans jazz-funk, gospel soul, and some lighthearted Randy Newman.”
# # #
Neal Francis
IN PLAIN SIGHT
(ATO Records)
Release Date: November 5, 2021
