Roo AOTD #65 Neal Francis

All aboard the hype train for Bonnaroo 2024! Only 64 days until we are all on the Farm again, can you believe it? It’s coming up fast and we can’t wait to be dancing with all of you at Bonnaroo! Today’s Artist of the Day is the one and only Neal Francis. Learn more about the artist below. Don’t forget to check out all of our artist spotlights! Thank you for reading these posts!

Artist Biography

Neal Francis O’Hara is a singer/songwriter/pianist from the Chicago suburb of Oak Brook. He started playing piano when he was four years old. He fell in love with blues and roots music soon after, and by the time he turned 18, Neal was the touring keyboardist for Muddy Waters’ son Mud Morganfield. In 20212, he joined up with Heard, a Chicago instrumental funk ensemble that shared stages with the New Mastersounds, the Revivalists, and George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic. During this time, Neal dove deep into alcoholism and was fired from Heard in 2015. He had also suffered from a life-threatening alcohol-induced seizure. Neal got clean and focused on writing songs that led him to put together a band to record an album in Los Angeles. He signed with Karma Chief Records and shortened his name to Neal Francis officially. He released his debut album Changes in 2019. He worked on his second album while living in a haunted church in Chicago, and In Plain Sight came out in 2021. In 2024, Neal released a live album titled Francis Comes Alive which has become a live set he has played at shows.

Genre

Psychedelic, Indie Rock, Jam Band

Scheduled at Bonnaroo

Thursday (Link to Daily Schedules)