Ken Wallis Chats With JUNO Award-Winning Artist Angelique Francis

Photo Credit: Ken Wallis.

Angelique Francis is a relatively-new force on the music scene, but you sure wouldn’t know hearing her new release. In her young career she’s already captured a Juno Award.  She and her band of family talent hail from Ottawa and her latest release features some of the top talent in the Blues world.

Ken Wallis interviewed Angelique Francis for the radio show BluesSource Canada. The following are excerpts from that interview, amended and edited for brevity and clarity

Ken Wallis

There's a new album out, Angelique Francis. The title of the album is Not Defeated, and we're thrilled to have Angelique join us. Great meeting you Angelique.

Angelique Francis

Hi, Ken. Thank you so much for having me today.

Ken Wallis

I really got to dig into this title, Not Defeated. Tell us what that means to you.

Angelique Francis

Well, Not Defeated is an analogy based off of the title track of the album. My band and I, we realized that there's a lot of difficult things happening in the world right now. And we wanted to create an album that spreads joy amongst the listeners, inspire people to recognize the strength that lies within all of them to make positive change. And it's about getting back up again when you fall and about growth. Growth of self, of community, of relationships, and those times throughout our lives.

Ken Wallis

And the one word that always jumps into my mind when I listen to your album is it's all about hope. That seems to come across very strongly.

Angelique Francis

It does. Thank you so much, Ken, for recognizing that.

Ken Wallis

So, tell us a little bit more about the band. I hear it's sort of a family affair with a some family involvement.

Angelique Francis

It is. It's very much a family affair. And at the core of my band is family. So myself, I'm on upright bass, harmonica, electric bass, various other instruments, lead vocals. My sister Kira Francis is on trombone and backing vocals. My sister Kharincia Francis is on berry sax, tenor sax, and alto sax. My sister Kayla Francis plays trumpet, percussion, and backing vocals. My father Kieran Francis is on drums and backing vocals. And on the album, you'll hear him do a bit of spoken word as well. And then on the album, we have our lead trumpet player, Ed Lister, another trumpet player, Andrew Knox, and our lead electric guitarist, Dave Williamson.

Ken Wallis

A couple of things come to my mind, but first I’ve got to ask you, how can somebody master those many instruments that you can play? It just, it boggles my mind.

Angelique Francis

Thanks, Ken. All it takes is a little practice.

Ken Wallis

I think there's a little bit of talent involved in there as well. It has to be. I'm just amazed at the album. It just sounds so good. I consider this a blues album, but it isn't only that, because you cross all kinds of genres in this album.

Angelique Francis

Yes, that's what we aim to do. The blues is such a powerful genre, such a strong history that is responsible for all of modern North American music genres, and it flows into the creation of so many different things. And a lot of people don't know that, especially the younger generation. So, we wanted to highlight that, all the different styles of blues we have, like ragtime, folk blues, New Orleans blues, all sorts of different blues, but then also combining different elements of the genres that it helped to create.

Ken Wallis

And I think that's marvelous. And you mentioned the younger generation. And to me, you're part of that younger new generation that's starting to bring the blues forward. A lot of people have that feeling that the blues is only for old people, but the younger generation is becoming great blues musicians like you. I think it's great.

Angelique Francis

Me too.  I'm really happy to see all of the amazing inspiration that younger musicians are getting and all the things that they're doing and creating in the genre.

Ken Wallis

The one thing I just can't get over, I've seen you several times at various blues festivals. The performance you and the band put on is just so electric.  It's so energy infused. How do you keep that up on stage? That's not easy, I'm sure, but it's such a fantastic performance.

Everybody's tapping their toes. People are getting up and dancing. I really laud the band for that.

Angelique Francis

Thank you so much. I appreciate that. And that's one of our biggest goals as a band. We want to encourage people to be a part of that music making, to have fun, to laugh and dance their troubles away. And how we keep up with it, there's a lot of practice. My sisters are incredible, especially when you see what they do in heels. So they're bending backwards, they're doing all of these different things and I had to take up yoga just to keep up with them.

Ken Wallis

That's wonderful. I guess the one thing I really would like to cover is they’re a couple of very special guests on your album.

Angelique Francis

Yes, there are. And it was such an honour to be able to work on these projects with them.

We have the incredible Grammy Award-winning artist Christone Kingfish Ingram on our track Escape. And then we have two-time Grammy nominee  Mr. Eric Gales on Train Coming.

Ken Wallis

How did you make the connection with them? I'm sure that wasn't easy getting Christone to play on your album, but was there a way that you approached these folks?

Angelique Francis

Yes, actually, I got to know them over the years.  Eric, I had the opportunity to tour with him on the Keeping the Blues Alive at Sea Festival in the Caribbean. We played several shows together and he was delighted about the opportunity of working together. And Christone, we've been friends for a number of years. And so when I proposed the idea, he was really excited and it's been like a dream working with them.

Ken Wallis

I'll bet. He's an amazing musician. How do you go about writing your songs?

Angelique Francis

I do it in a number of ways. My father and I, we co-write all the songs that we've released on not only this album, but my previous two as well. And we're inspired by everything, modern events, things that we read on TV. And sometimes it starts off with lyrics, sometimes it starts off with music, but a lot of the time it's formed in our house. You know, the way that my sister and I, my sisters and I got into music is by jamming after dinners every night. And a lot of the songs that we create are created through that same process.

Ken Wallis

It's a fabulous album and your previous album won a Juno. So let's see what this one does.  Do you feel that this is a different kind of an album? Is it an outgrowth from your previous one or are you taking a sort of a different direction?

Angelique Francis

I think it's kind of like a spiritual successor. The idea behind it is a little bit different. Long River was about the different stages of life. And Not Defeated has a different kind of hopeful message to it. But I'm doing the same thing that I've done with all my albums in that we're showcasing many different styles of the blues.

Ken Wallis

And for folks that want to buy the album, and I stressed buy the album, not stream it, where do they get a hold of it?

Angelique Francis

Well, you can get a hold of my album on CD on my website, angeliquefrancis.net/shop.

You can also get a copy at any of the shows that I do. And you can also purchase the album digitally on all major digital purchase platforms.

Ken Wallis

Well, it's a great album, and I wish you all the best with it. And I really appreciate you taking the time today, and we'll certainly play a lot of those tunes over the next little while.

Angelique Francis

Oh, thank you, Ken. I appreciate you. Thank you so much for all that you do.

Ken Wallis

My pleasure.

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Ken Wallis is the President and co-founder of the Escarpment Blues Society, based in Southern Ontario, Canada. 

He is a retired Associate Dean of Media And Entertainment studies at Mohawk College, Hamilton, he's a busy guy, as he is also the host of Blues Source Canada on INDI1015 FM, the show aired for close to ten years on our sister platform, Blues and Roots Radio, and was featured here at The Sound Cafe as a podcast for five years.

Ken is also a valued contributor to The Sound Cafe Magazine, featuring interviews with artists from Canada's blues collective, along with features on many blues festivals. He also contributes to his hometown publication, the Hamilton City Magazine.