Jazz singer-songwriter Michael Franks returns to Detroit this weekend, teases new album

One of Detroit’s favorite international jazz musicians, singer-songwriter Michael Franks, will return to Detroit on Saturday at Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts, presented by Hollywood Casino at Greektown.

Popular in the Motor City region for more than four decades, Franks always draws adoring crowds to savor his sophisticated melodies and witty, sometimes risqué lyrics. And with nearly 20 albums to his credit stretching from the 1970s into the current century, there’s a lot of material to draw from onstage.

“Detroit was near the end of the first tour I did for Warner Bros.,” Franks recalled. “When we got there, we went to this big, beautiful theater down by the river – I think it’s been demolished. I think it was called the Ford Theater.* We had a huge crowd, about 3,000 people, and my mind was totally blown. It’s always been like that with Detroit.

“I was embraced so much by radio there, especially WJZZ. I used to go there whenever I was town to actually talk to DJs in the studio, which is so much fun. I’ve been blessed with great fans.”

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It’s been six years since his last record, “The Music in My Head,” but Franks is hard at work on a new album.

“I’ve slowed down to intervals of five or six years (between albums) now,” he said, “but I really enjoy my creative life, so at this point in my career, it’s great to take my time with it. I’ve started a little recording, and I’ve kind of been working episodically as I write things. It’s been fun. I’ve been trying to work on music a little bit every day.

“I’ve been trying to write on the piano, which is an instrument I don’t really play or know that well, but it’s been great because instead of going to the same places I would go on the guitar, the piano is all laid out right in front of you, and you’re looking own on it. It’s been a great way to think about harmony.”

When not touring or working on music, Franks and his wife live a quiet life in Woodstock, New York.

“We’re pretty reclusive,” he said with a laugh. “We have some friends, of course, but we’re sort of stay-at-home types. We’re actually now at the lowest number of pets we’ve had in a long time. For a while there, we had seven cats. My wife volunteers at the local SPCA, so I have gone down there (repeatedly) and fallen in love. But right now, we’ve got two little rescue dachshunds, and we still have two cats that were rescues from our original seven.”

But for right now, he’s excitedly looking forward to hitting the stage in Detroit.

“It’s just always been so great to come to Detroit,” he said, noting that he tends to make annual appearances at either Music Hall or The Aretha Franklin Amphitheater, and sometimes both.

“There were a few times at Aretha Franklin when the audience was singing almost every tune with me,” he remembered. “That kind of connection is such a rarity; it’s a really inspiring thing, and the guys in the band get all excited when we come to Detroit.”

Tickets for Michael Franks at Music Hall start at $59 and can be found at musichall.org .

*Ford Auditorium was built on the Detroit riverfront in 1955 and demolished in 2011.

Contact Free Press arts and culture reporter Duante Beddingfield at dbeddingfield@freepress.com.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Jazz singer-songwriter Michael Franks returns to Detroit this weekend, teases new album