Lui Collins & Bob Franke

Lui Collins : “One of New England’s clearest and most distinctive folk voices, with unusually piercing lyrical insight…” -HARTFORD COURANT

“Franke songs are often devastatingly simple, joyfully anthemic, just plain quirky or wonderfully suggestive—but always, unforgettable” CHICAGO MAGAZINE

A rare night with two of our finest singer-songwriters who for decades have been among our most loved performers, joining in concert! Lui Collins and Bob Franke have each often appeared solo here at The Step, from our days across from Albany’s Washington Park to the present at Proctors. A concert by either is always an event. But one night with both promises magic!

BOB FRANKE : One of the most prolific and important folk songwriters of our times, his intimate songs and potent ballads are interspersed with revealing anecdotes – sly blues about bicycles, computers, and cagey catfish; daffy ditties about manic monkeys, psychedelic polkas, and adjusting to our loved ones’ foibles. His voice is warm, soft and familiar; he’s a superb guitarist but never a show-off. He wants to meet and befriend his audience, neighbor to neighbor, friend to friend.

Many of his songs, like “Hard Love,” “For Real,” “Thanksgiving Eve,” and “The Great Storm Is Over” are beloved by folk audiences, heard in song circles, around folk festival singalongs after dark, by choirs. Peter, Paul, and Mary, Kathy Mattea, John McCutcheon, Garnet Rogers, and David Wilcox are among the many who have recorded Bob Franke songs.

LUI COLLINS : The Boston Globe pronounced her “one of New England’s first and brightest stars,” and the Boston Herald calls her a “folksinger for our times.” Onstage she’s enthralling, her voice clear and warm and rich, her performance transporting. Her lyrical and lush songwriting inspired legendary folksinger Dave Van Ronk to call her “one of the best guitarist-arrangers I have heard in years.”

Her early Philo and Green Linnet recordings earned international acclaim. She She has shared the stage with Pete Seeger, Bonnie Raitt, Stan Rogers, Garnet Rogers, Dar Williams, and John Gorka.

Guitarist/Grammy-nominated producer ANAND NAYAK accompanies Collins in a wide range of styles and languages; more than a decade of creative collaboration shows in their fluid musical dialogue onstage.

Join us for a very special evening!