Neal Francis has been through some shit. We all have our skeletons in the closet. What is refreshing though, is Francis doesn’t keep them locked up in that closet. He comes right out and tells you about his struggles with addiction. He doesn’t hide the fact that he has had some very bad breakups. In fact, he writes songs about those things. Incredibly catchy, piano rock, funky songs.
On Tuesday, with a LaCroix in his hand, the singer-songwriter from Chicago who has been called a piano prodigy since he was 4 years old, packed the venerable 8×10 Club in Baltimore.
One of my favorite places to see a show, it’s easy to see why it is called 8×10. Squeezing through the small door on Cross St, you are greeted by a bar on your left and a stairwell on your right. The black walls make it feel even smaller. The stage can’t be much more than 8×10.
Opening the show was Danielle Ponder. A former public defender who quit her job to pursue her music career full-time at the age of 39. Ponder writes songs about things that matter. About being a Black woman in America. About following your dreams, despite how old you are or what people tell you. And about eating mushrooms. Her final song of the night, a cover of Radiohead’s Creep, had the crowd entranced. Her voice moving between achingly haunting and bombastic, it literally brought a tear to my eye. Please go listen to it.
After eyes dried and fans gathered around the tiny, crowded stage, and perched above from the U-shaped balcony, Francis and his bandmates delivered a show steeped in 70’s funk, New Orleans beats, gospel-like organs and barroom rock.
Rocking a haircut reminiscent of David Cassidy in The Partridge Family, Francis showed why he is the current King of Piano Rock. Moving between the electric piano, organ and whammy clavinet throughout the set.
Francis laid his heart out for everyone there and I hope they went away feeling that it is okay to not be perfect. Put your problems out there for the world to see. The only way to move forward is to open that closet door and let the skeletons out. We should all try to be a bit more like Neal Francis. Even if we can’t play the piano like he can.
NEAL FRANCIS
DANIELLE PONDER
