Neal Francis Shares New Track, ‘Don’t Want You To Know’; Announces London Show

Acclaimed singer-songwriter-pianist Neal Francis has shared his emotionally charged and soulful new single, “Don’t Want You To Know”. He also announced a new headline show at London’s Moth Club on November 1.

Produced in Los Angeles by longtime collaborator Sergio Rios, the emotionally charged track heralds the Chicago-based artist’s upcoming new EP, ‘Sentimental Garbage’, arriving via ATO Records on Friday, November 18.

“This was another artifact of a bad breakup,” Francis says of “Don’t Want You To Know”. “This one occurred back in 2014. It’s about living a double life and paying the consequences. This is one of the first tunes I demoed out for the Neal Francis project with Mike Novak in 2016 when I was recently sober.”

‘Sentimental Garbage’ was unveiled last month with the premiere of two all new tracks, the horn-blasted “Very Fine, Pts. 1 & 2” backed with a hypnotic cover of Shuggie Otis’ classic, “Strawberry Letter 23,” both available now for streaming and download. The double-sided single had its exclusive premiere via Rolling Stone Country, which wrote, “Francis’s rendition of ‘Strawberry Letter 23’ evokes the Seventies charm of the disco-tinged single — a Top 5 hit for the Brothers Johnson in 1977 — and dazzles with a psychedelic mid-song breakdown.”

Sentimental Garbage – which follows last year’s breakthrough second LP, In Plain Sight (ATO) – collects a number of standout tracks recorded during the original album sessions at The Parsonage, Francis’s DIY studio at St. Peter’s Church in Chicago, alongside newly recorded cover versions of classic songs by Shuggie Otis (“Strawberry Letter 23”) and The Three Degrees (“Collage”).

“Sentimental Garbage was the working title of our last LP,” Francis says, “which includes the track of the same name. We ended up calling that record In Plain Sight while removing the title track from the sequence. I knew this was my last chance to slap ‘Sentimental Garbage’ on a record jacket, the thought of which always brought me great joy. It also works because this record is compiled of bittersweet scraps. I guess we could have also titled the record Burnt Ends.”

Pre-order the ‘Sentimental Garbage’ EP.

Neal Francis plays the following European dates:

NOVEMBER 2023:
1 – London, UK – Moth Club (new date)
2 – Maastricht, NL – Muziekgieterij
3 – Rotterdam, NL – Bird
4 – Nijmegen, NL – Merleyn
5 – Groningen, NL – Take Root Festival
6 – Utrecht, NL – de Helling
8 – Antwerp, BE – Trix Bar
9 – Leffinge, BE – De Zwerver
10 – Beauvais, FR – L’ouvre Boite
11 – Saint–Lô, FR – Le Normandy
12 – Bethune, FR – Le Poche
13 – Paris, FR – Please, Please, Please Festival @ La Boule Noire
15 – Hengelo, NL – Metropool
16 – Hamburg, DE – Häkken
17 – Copenhagen, DK – Råhuset
18 – Malmo, SW – Folk å Rock
19 – Falkenberg, SW – Tryckhallen
20 – Stockholm, SW – Nalen
21 – Oslo, NO – Blå
22 – Bergen, NO – Lille Ole Bull
25 – Berlin, DE – Prachtwerk
26 – Munich, DE – Milla Club
27 – Milan, IT – Spazio Teatro 89
30 – Barcelona, ES – Piñata Music Series @ La Nau