Photo via Francesa and the Night Sky - Facebook
Francesa and the Night Sky
Francesa and the Night Sky
Don’t call Francesca a folkie.
The veteran Milwaukee musician who leads Francesca and The Night Sky may have played early gigs as a solo performer and in a duo with Tom Plutshack at Milwaukee venues known for their support for acoustic music such as The Coffee House, but she takes a broader approach to her artistry.
“I don’t see myself in the folk music tradition lineage,” she says. Francesca, however, concedes, “It’s certainly where I started in my musical interests. I’m an independent singer-songwriter who is hard to pin down to any one style and subject matter. I never know what I am going to write, and it’s a very spontaneous process.”
She and the trio comprising The Night Sky—guitarist/vocalist Plutshack, bassist/multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Larry Koehn, and drummer/vocalist Mike Farrow—will draw from their bandleader's gift for spontaneity when they next play the cleverly-named Sherman Perk coffee house for a 7 p.m. show on Friday, May 10.
“We love playing in the cozy confines of the Sherman Perk Coffee Shop!” she says. “Owner Bob Olin is a righteous guy who supports community events and a lot of local music. He converted his shop from a former gas station designed in the Streamline Moderne architectural style—it’s listed by Milwaukee as a Historic Property due to its architectural significance. It’s a nice sounding room with a comfortable clubhouse feeling. Also, their smoothies are great.” Koehn, an alum of Milwaukee bands including Oh Yeah and Tony's Tygers before being recruited by Francesca to be a firmament in The Night Sky, adds regarding his appreciation for Sherman Perk, “It’s the coffee! Seriously, it’s a nice little venue to play.”
What to Call It?
But if it's not folk that Francesca and her bandmates are set to offer at one of their favorite places to play, what would they call their music? Francesca herself is at something of a loss to describe what she does musically, too.
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“Describing my music has never been easy for me. It’s melodic and lyrically driven. My early influences were The Beatles, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young and CSNY. I have a lot of different genres that I can explore song-wise. I must credit Tom and the Night Sky for supporting all the different styles I songs I write that I may present to them. I don’t know if I’m unique other than I prefer to play original music,” Francesca shares of what this writer would call her and The Night Sky's pop-leaning folk rock.
Whatever she wants to call it, she’s been creating it a fairly fecund rate over the past decade. But she’s also an able editor of her own work. “I write pretty prolifically, although not at a consistent pace, and a lot of songs don’t survive the winnowing process. I’ve probably written over 100 songs in the last nine years, of which I kept maybe half and still sing often about a third,” Francesca observes.
What inspires her babies, as she’s apt to call her compositions. “Inspiration is an interesting question,” she responds. “I think I’ve learned that the song drives itself. If I try to control it, it dissipates. The most common way I write is lyrics first. I don’t always know where or what is going to happen.”
If YouTube videos of recent Night Sky shows over the past year or so are indicative, what happens with Francesca and her guys is a mellowly peppy sound that would go well with downing some java or the smoothies the band’s leader enjoys. But all might not be as it seems. Francessca confesses to a “propensity for writing sad dark songs.” But as ballast to that lyrically somber fare, she includes renditions of happier numbers such as The Andrews Sisters’ Yiddish hit “Bei Mir Bist Du Schon.” She and The Night Sky plan on other remakes for their next Sherman Perk date, but “I’d rather not say what these are; I’m hoping you will come to the show and see for yourself.”
New Album?
She’s also likely hoping Perk patrons will purchase the band’s album when it’s available. It’s been roughly a decade since Francesca has recorded, which was with a prior band. “We are going to start recording in September with Chris Koterba at Fox River Forge Studio. Chris was the former bass player, sound engineer, and co producer of my project with Francesca and the 440 Hum album, Forever. I look forward to getting started as we have so many songs to pick from," she states.
Live performance may what energizes her most, though.
“The greatest satisfaction I get from playing out is doing something I absolutely love with people I love and respect,” she says. “There isn’t much else that I’d rather do artistically. We all bring so many gifts to the table. Enjoying the performance in the moment is something I’ve learned to appreciate as I can relax and connect with the audience. One of my bandmates said being a singer songwriter and performer is my mission.”
