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Neal Francis with Liam Kazar presented by 93XRT Chicago Tour Dates & Concerts

Neal Francis with Liam Kazar presented by 93XRT Chicago Tickets

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  Neal Francis

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On his new album In Plain Sight, Neal Francis offers up a body of work both strangely enchanted and painfully self-aware, unfolding in songs sparked from Greek myths and frenzied dreams and late-night drives in the depths of summer delirium. True to its charmed complexity, the singer/songwriter/pianists second full-length came to life over the course of a tumultuous year spent living in a possibly haunted church in Chicago. The result: a portrait of profound upheaval and weary resilience, presented in a kaleidoscopic sound thats endlessly absorbing.The follow-up to Franciss 2019 debut Changesa New Orleans-Rthe reincarnation of Allen Toussaint by BBC Radio 6In Plain Sight was written and recorded almost entirely at the church, a now-defunct congregation called St. Peters UCC. Despite not identifying as religious, Francis took a music-ministry job at the church in 2017 at the suggestion of a friend. After breaking up with his longtime girlfriend while on tour in fall 2019, he returned to his hometown and found himself with no place to stay, then headed to St. Peters and asked to move into the parsonage. I thought Id only stay a few months but it turned into over a year, and I knew I had to do something to take advantage of this miraculous gift of a situation, he says.Mixed by Grammy Award-winner Dave Fridmann (HAIM, Spoon, The Flaming Lips, Tame Impala), In Plain Sight finds Francis again joining forces with Changes producer and analog obsessive Sergio Rios (a guitarist/engineer known for his work with CeeLo Green and Alicia Keys). Like its predecessor, the album spotlights Franciss refined yet free-spirited performance on piano, an instrument he took up at the age of four. From a very early age, I was playing late into the night in a very stream-of-consciousness kind of way, he says, naming everything from ragtime to gospel soul to The Who among his formative influences. With a prodigy-like gift for piano, Francis sat in with a dozen different blues acts in Chicago clubs as a teenager, and helmed a widely beloved instrumental funk band called The Heard before going solo. Along with earning lavish acclaim (including a glowing review from Bob Lefsetz, who declared: THIS IS THE FUTURE OF THE MUSIC BUSINESS!), Changes led to such triumphs as performing live on KCRWs Morning Becomes Eclectic, sharing the stage with members of The Meters at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, and touring with such acts as Lee Fields & The Expressions and Black Pumas.

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