Cancion Franklin plays traditional Americana music and on his new single Blue Jeans he sings about the plans he made, the juke joints they took him to, and every bad turn he's taken to find a space that's still left to be original. His smoky baritone tells a great story. Originally from Tucson, Arizona, his musical life began when he first heard the blues as a child. "Howlin' Wolf blew my small mind wide open." Cancion moved to New Jersey to attend college and to pursue his musical dreams. "I took the NJ transit to play dives in North Jersey that aren't there anymore, to whichever drunks happened to be in bathrooms, train stations, houses, dive bars and barns. Each show became a push towards a higher level of expression."
By Kamil Bobin
Discovered via Musosoup
Hello Cancion Franklin. What strengths do you have that you believe make you a great musician?
I think that I have a lot of perseverance, it’s taken me a long time to find my voice, and an even longer time for my hand to catch up with what my mind wanted it to do on a guitar. That’s really it, I have an uncanny ability to continue to hone my craft through thick and thin. I don’t feel like I started out with a lot, i’ve developed my skills over the years.
What is your dream project?
I would love to play in a band with three backup singers. It would be me and a stomp box to keep the beat and just sweet sweet harmonies. Oh, and some guitar of course.
Your latest track is 'Blue Jeans'. Can you share with us the background of its creation and did any unusual things happen during its creation?
Yeah, Blue Jeans is one of those songs that kicks around in my head for quite a while before coming to fruition. I went to Paris for a month and wrote some ideas down while I was there, then when the pandemic hit I found myself on a flight home to Arizona writing the opening lines. I hadn’t visited home in 7 years, so I think that big moment and the loss of my life as I once knew it all came out together in this song. A lot of people’s lives changed overnight during that time, I was no different. I think the last few years before that coming crashing down fell into the song in a nice way.
What makes you angry?
The biggest thing is selfish conversationalists. Someone who just rambles on and on without waiting for a response from the other person is pretty difficult to deal with. There’s a difference between that and just someone who is impassioned, thats always welcome.
What is the most surprising fact you’ve learnt about yourself?
That I actually love people. I used to be scared of them and feel defensive because I wasn’t sorting out some of the important parts of life. Now that I’ve begun dealing with my side of the street, I have such an appreciation for anyone engaging in life. Life is so difficult for most people, I find it so inspirational to know what adults are up against, and also know that they get out of bed in the morning and face it down each day. If you pull anyone off the street and talk to them, you will find that they have a story full of setbacks and hardship and triumph. This isn’t an easy go for anyone, even those with a lot of money. It definitely is harder for some than others, but this world takes it’s pound of flesh no matter who you are. The fact that the world still goes round blows my mind.
What do you dislike about your work?
Well, there’s things I dislike about it in so far as I know where I want to be and I know that I’m not there yet. As Prince said “The best record is the next record.” I took a long time to come around to record, I released my first music about 5 years ago, and it takes 10,000 hours to get good at every aspect of this business. So I spent most of my time on live performance, and finding out how to translate that into the studio is a process. By the time I get around to releasing music I’ve learned so much in that process that I no longer think it’s a representation of where I’m at. So I have to just live with hearing my past self play and know that there’s still merit to it, even if I'm better now.
What is one message you would give to your fans?
My fans keep me going. Even one person liking my music and saying so makes my day. So I would just like to say thank you. There’s really no way to describe my immense gratitude towards them.
Is the artistic life lonely? What do you do to counteract it?
The artistic life has been lonely, the way I’ve been doing it. I’ve always been so scared that things weren’t going to work out that I wasn’t able to engage with other people. Now i’ve been writing and working with all kinds of amazing people that teach me so much. I’ve been trying not to worry about the bottom line and just make the best work I can. This business is deceiving because so much merit is put on social media, but marketing doesn’t have anything to do with good work. Letting go of those things have been essential to battle loneliness. It’s easy for me to sit at home and feel like the only person with my struggles, but it isn’t true. Even some of the most successful people have had the same problems. So now I am able to spend time with people, musicians and non musicians, and enjoy hearing about their hopes and worries.
What do you think is the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen or experienced?
Well I do love Gospel music. I like riding horses and walking through the desert in remote places. It would be hard to narrow down. I think being okay after all these years of struggle has taught me to see the beauty in the simple things. I appreciate having the money to buy a good meal, or a night off with friends, or a cup of coffee in the morning. I got to play for someone in hospice, they passed away a few hours later. I just sat and played my slide guitar for them for an hour. I felt like I really got to do something that day. I’m not even sure what it was that I did, but I know that I was doing what music is really for in that moment. I played in a way I have never played before, it was all about peace in an indescribable way.
What are your plans for the future?
I plan to continue to write my songs, try to be a better man and better musician. I’m going to fix up my truck a little bit more and hopefully do some more shows on the road, and record some more good music with the Animal Farm!