How a Chicago piano prodigy steeped in New Orleans tradition lost everything to addiction, clawed his way back to sobriety, and returned with a run of warm, vintage soul and funk records that feel beamed in from 1972.
The Short Version
Who Is He?
Neal Francis is a Chicago singer, songwriter, and pianist who makes music that sounds like a lost artifact of early-seventies New Orleans, all rolling piano, greasy funk, and Sunday-morning soul, played with the ease of someone who grew up inside the tradition. He started on the piano as a child, fell hard for the Crescent City sound of Dr. John, Professor Longhair, and Allen Toussaint, and spent his teens gigging around Chicago.
Two things make him singular. First, the touch: his piano playing carries the loose, syncopated New Orleans feel that almost no one his age has bothered to learn, and it anchors every record. Second, the story: Francis nearly lost his life and career to alcohol and drugs before getting sober in his late twenties, and the comeback that followed poured all of that hard-won clarity into songs about ruin, renewal, and grace.
He is a working touring musician with a growing catalog and a reputation as one of the most electric live acts of the vintage-soul revival. To hear where soul and funk are being kept alive and pushed forward at once, you start here.
The rolling New Orleans piano tradition, the ground Neal Francis's music grows from.From Chicago Piano Bars to a Second Chance
The Story
Francis's path is a genuine redemption arc: a gifted young player who nearly burned it all down, then rebuilt himself and his music from the ground up.
Analog rooms and vintage gear, chasing a sound that feels beamed in from 1972.
1990s
A Chicago piano kid
Francis began playing piano as a young child and grew obsessed with New Orleans music, absorbing Dr. John, Professor Longhair, and Allen Toussaint while cutting his teeth on the Chicago scene.
2010s
The Heard and the bottom
He fronted the funk band The Heard and toured hard, but alcohol and drugs took over. Addiction cost him the band, his health, and nearly his life before he hit rock bottom.
2016
Getting sober
Francis got clean and began writing again with a new clarity, channeling the wreckage and the recovery into a batch of vintage-minded solo songs.
2019
Changes
His debut solo album arrived to wide acclaim, a warm, funky, soul-soaked record that announced a fully formed voice and made him a favorite of the revival scene.
2021
In Plain Sight
The follow-up widened the palette with psychedelic soul and richer arrangements, mixed by Dave Fridmann, and cemented Francis as more than a period revivalist.
2020s
A live reputation
Relentless touring, a knockout KEXP session, and dates alongside major acts built his name as one of the most exciting live piano-funk bandleaders working.
2025
Return to Zero
His third album deepened the songwriting and the groove, the sound of an artist settling fully into his craft while still reaching for something new.
Four Songs, One Introduction
Start Here
Francis's catalog is compact and consistent, which makes it easy to get in. These four songs move from the funk to the ballads to the grooves, the fastest way to hear what he does. Watch in order.
01 · The Calling Card
"Changes" (2019)
The title track of his debut and the perfect entry point: rolling New Orleans piano, a fat funk groove, and a lyric about transformation that doubles as his life story. Start here.
02 · The Groove
"Can't Stop The Rain" (2019)
A loose, swampy strut built on that signature piano feel, showing how deeply Francis has internalized the Crescent City tradition without ever sounding like a museum piece.
03 · The Soul Side
"What's Left Of Me" (2021)
From In Plain Sight: a psychedelic soul ballad that leans on Dave Fridmann's widescreen mix, proof that Francis can stretch the vintage template into something lush and modern.
04 · The Party
"Back It Up" (2021)
Pure joy: a horn-kissed dance-floor funk workout that captures the live-band energy Francis is known for on stage. The sound of a man grateful to be here.
The Studio Records
The Albums 3 to start with
Francis's catalog is still young, which makes it a rare pleasure: you can hear the whole story in three albums. The blue-topped card is the best place to begin.
2019
Changes
The debut and the doorway. Warm, funky, and soaked in New Orleans piano, it turns the wreckage of addiction and the clarity of sobriety into some of the most inviting soul of the modern revival.
The leap forward. Mixed by Dave Fridmann, it widens the sound with psychedelic soul, richer arrangements, and bigger emotional stakes, showing Francis is far more than a period piece.
The third record, and the sound of a songwriter settling fully into his craft. Deeper grooves and sharper writing from an artist no longer proving he belongs, just doing the work.
Two YouTube Music playlists: a First Listen of the signature songs to bring you in, and a Deep Cuts set of the grooves and slow burners for when you want to sink in. (Ideally, though, hear these albums whole.) Hit the button on either card to play it.
Francis is the writer and the pianist at the center, but his records live and die on the touch of the players and producers who frame that vintage sound.
Horns, organ, and a tight rhythm section, the tools of the warm funk sound.
Neal FrancisPiano / vocals / songwritingThe center of it all, whose loose New Orleans piano feel and hard-won lyrics anchor every track
His Touring BandRhythm section / hornsThe tight, road-tested group that gives the records their live energy and turns the shows into full-tilt funk revivals
Sergio RiosProducer / guitarOf the funk band Orgone, he helped shape the warm, analog sound that runs through the vintage-leaning material
Dave FridmannMixingThe producer known for The Flaming Lips and MGMT mixed In Plain Sight, lending its psychedelic soul a widescreen depth
ATO RecordsLabelThe independent home for much of his catalog, giving a throwback artist a modern platform and reach
The Roots of the Sound
Influences
Francis built his art from the deep well of New Orleans and vintage American funk and soul: the piano professors of the Crescent City, the tightest rhythm section in the business, and the great song architects. Here is where it started.
New Orleans
Dr. John
The presiding spirit. The gris-gris funk, the swampy piano, and the theatrical Crescent City voodoo of Dr. John are the clearest north star in Francis's whole sound.
The great New Orleans songwriter, producer, and pianist. His elegant arrangements and rolling keyboard feel are woven into the fabric of everything Francis writes.
The blueprint for the groove. The syncopated, in-the-pocket funk of the New Orleans rhythm masters is the pulse under Francis's tightest, most danceable moments.
The gospel-rock piano man whose swampy, roadhouse songcraft and barrelhouse keys share deep DNA with the way Francis marries soul, funk, and rock at the keyboard.
Francis is candid about his addiction, his recovery, and his devotion to the New Orleans tradition. The best window into all of it is watching him play, then hearing him talk about how he got here.
Session · KEXP
Neal Francis, Live on KEXP
A full in-studio performance that captures everything at once: the rolling piano, the tight band, and the joy of a player who nearly lost it all and clearly savors every note.
Interview · Archive
The Conversations
Across radio sessions and print profiles, Francis talks openly about getting sober, chasing the New Orleans sound, and building a career the second time around. Search YouTube for interviews and behind-the-scenes clips.
Once the studio albums have you, Francis's world opens into live recordings, sessions, and the deep New Orleans catalog he draws from.
The live shows. Francis is first and foremost a live act; the concert films and full-set recordings, like the Salt Shed and Thalia Hall dates, capture the band at full tilt.
The KEXP and radio sessions. His in-studio performances are among the best introductions to the group, stripped of studio polish and running on pure feel.
The collaborations. Team-ups like his work with the harmony trio Say She She show how naturally his sound folds into the wider modern soul and funk revival.
The source material. Follow the thread back to Professor Longhair, The Meters, and Allen Toussaint to hear the New Orleans lineage that Francis is carrying forward.
The Way to Listen
Do yourself one favor: put on Changes from start to finish, then In Plain Sight. Let the piano lead. Francis is a feel player as much as a songwriter, and the groove repays your patience.
