Born in Los Angeles in 1987, Robert Francis grew up surrounded by music. Hi… Read Full Bio ↴Born in Los Angeles in 1987, Robert Francis grew up surrounded by music. His father is a classical music producer and eccentric owner of one of the largest collections of sheet music in the U.S. One of Francis' earliest memories is his father "blasting music at full volume in his cluttered office under fluorescent lights until 4 a.m. while I was trying to sleep in the room next door." His mother, one of nine sisters, grew up in Mexico in a town so small that "it's just dirt, clay huts, boarded-up buildings, and a town drunk who walks around in the beating sun with a jug of Bacardi," Francis says. After Robert studied piano for several years, his mother encouraged her then seven-year-old son to learn guitar so he could play the traditional ranchera songs she grew up singing with her sisters. When Francis was nine, family friend Ry Cooder gifted him his first National Slide guitar. He also fell in love with Wim Wenders' 1984 film Paris, Texas, for which Cooder composed the soundtrack. "It inspired me," Robert remembers. "I got the idea in my head that I wanted to drop out of school and travel when I was 10 years old."

By the time he reached eleventh grade, he decided school was not for him and left. He spent a little over a year living dangerously and upsetting all those close to him until he met a girl who would then change his life. "It was a really tumultuous romantic relationship that lasted on and off for a few years," he says. "Then it just sort of fizzled out. I started writing songs the first time I figured out how to pinpoint that feeling of loss. I guess I was just waiting to make music until I had something to say. From then on, I realized I could write songs that really meant something to me."

The result was One By One, which Francis recorded at a friend's recording studio and released in August 2007 on Aeronaut Records. It didn't sell much, but it earned positive reviews from critics who compared Francis to a young Townes Van Zandt. The attention led to a record deal with Atlantic Records, which is releasing Before Nightfall.

Written over the summer of 2008 and recorded in March 2009, Before Nightfall is a snapshot of where Francis is now. "When people listen to the album, I want them to feel happy," he says. "I feel uplifted when I hear these songs; they don't bring me down. I hope people will be able to relate to them and feel as though whatever is going on in their lives is going to be okay."

!! There is other Robert Francis, author of cd: The Sitting Bull Suite

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Robert Francis Lyrics

We have lyrics for these tracks by Robert Francis:

Alibi I won't forget the reasons I went so far to love…
Alice I was destined for greatness It's what my mother once told…
All of My Trains All of my trains They all roll on by Burried again, I…
Baby Was The Devil My baby was the devil had her head in my…
Boy Like That I knew a boy that liked to talk till dawn Sometimes…
Built to Last I woke up, everything was clearer I met the man staring…
Climb A Mountain I climbed down a mountain in my dreams a long…
Coast Somehow you are still my first Somehow I still don't know…
Copy Comic Hello there, how've you been? I heard that you're moving to…

Dakota Light shines off rivers flowing through Every part of me wan…
Dangerous Neighborhood I, I'm gonna make a master piece Get out of the…
Darkness When you're lost, in an old part of town, got…
Do What I Can I still think 'bout the days, driving around, with nothing…
Down the Line I followed you to an old hotel I was so lit…
Eighteen Sable I left you in the sunrise I left to say that Soon…
Give You My Love Digital daydream You're rowing I watch you dissapear in the …
Good Hearted Man I, I'm a good hearted man And you, you're a…
Hallways Desert, mountains, life. We drove out where the winds blew.…
Heroin Lovers I know I love you babe I want to trust you…
I Like The Air Filed down coffins in the neighborhood. A Spanish girl walki…
Junebug Junebug, I remember everything The blue carpeted floors, the…
Keep On Running I heard you knocking at my back door. You said your…
Little Girl You said you want to be outside and you want…
Loose Conditions I descended from the cave man The first words written in…
Love For Me I see blood on the horizon The moon is half from…
Love Is A Chemical They say love is just a chemical, swimming in your…
Mama Don't Come I woke in the nighttime, But you awoke first You got up…
Mescaline Mescaline in the sun. You try so hard, to find someone. I…
NightFall Honey, I know I'm moving too fast, walking over water,…
One By One I loved a girl once And she was very young Everyday…
Paradise Last night I had a dream our house went up…
Perfectly Yours There is an answer asleep in my veins Between the fire…
Playground There's a place inside each tear, that you'd shed for…
Sad Girl You're in your Green Bucks jersey with your blue hair,…
Some Things Never Change You and I it's time began In the moves, in the…
Somewhere Trains Shadows form a kind of litmus Testing my forgiveness Be my w…
Star Crossed Memories Time, It's so hard to trace when I can't see the…
The Devil's Mountains Devil mountains, There's a knocking, Devil mountains, P…
Tunnels There's a stranger in my bed waiting to have fun I'm…
What It's Like You can run off to a small town And spend some…

Where You Came From Sugar on the highway, something 'bout the way she moved…

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