Hannah Frank Group

HANNAH FRANK 

Hannah Frank is a Midwestern songwriter whose first forays into music swept through rural country blues, raw cowboy chords, and surprising lyrics. Soaking up Chicago's varied music scene, you will now also hear traces of jazz, world, rock and the electrifying energy of urban blues. Characters step out of songs as if out of a novel. The original songs and select covers are mysterious, evocative and fun. 

Hannah Frank's alternative folk roots music with heavy lyrics is twenty years in the making. Her clear country-tinged voice paints imagery of characters, and tells stories through prose tinged with psychology and word play. Audiences in venues as wide ranging as small cafes to large stages enjoy an original act with traces of blues, Americana, rock, world and jazz. Hannah plays acoustic and electric guitar and creates an epic journey for listeners whether performing solo or with a custom-built band of excellent performers. Hannah Frank Group is a collective of musicians expressing creativity and freedom through original music and interpretations of classic roots and blues songs. In the studio, Hannah's guitarwork, support vocals and lyrics have appeared on other artist's albums in the rock, songwriter and blues genres.  

Highlights 

Live Show Highlights: House of Blues Chicago (2015)  

Podcasts: Chicago Acoustic Underground (Original Music)

Radio: WDCB 90.9 FM, WLUW 88.7 FM, WLIP Kenosha Interview 

Conferences: Coffeecon Consumer Coffee Conference (2012) 

Festivals: Glenwood Avenue Arts Festival, Bucktown Garden Walk 

Live Studio Performances: Strobe Sessions at Strobe Recording Studio, Chicago, IL 

Releases: LIVE EP (2014), PUSH (2016) 

In the Studio: Recording 21 original tracks in 1 day (2002) 

Collaboration: Co-writer on "Hip Twist" on Martin Lang's album Ain't No Notion, Random Chance Records NYC (2017) 

HANNAH FRANK GROUP 

Personnel includes Meg Thomas (Percussion), Victor Sanders (Electric Guitar), Ben E. Miller (Bass), plus special guests.

HANNAH FRANK, Songwriting, Guitar, Vocals 

Inspired early on by the raw elements of rock and roll tracing back to rural blues, she took the troubadour approach and wrote songs on acoustic guitar. Upon living in Chicago, she embraced electric guitar and soaked up urban styles including, jazz and world music. Her lyrics are full of imagery, characters and points of view. "My favorite time in music is when blues, jazz, gospel and rock and roll were pretty much the same thing."

BEN E. MILLER, Bass

Ben E. Miller is a fourth generation professional musician who got his start playing in his father's orchestra at age 14. Over the years, he has has played with many Rock and Roll, Blues, Alt-Country and Show bands, and has backed up a variety of Tribute artists, singer-songwriters, Folk singers, choirs and Spoken Word poets in many venues, clubs and festivals all over Chicagoland. He also has recorded extensively, toured the Midwest, played in several theatre productions and has appeared on local radio and television programs. His bass influences range from the 1950's Blues and Rock and Roll pioneers to the 1960's legendary Rock group players and Studio icons. He has an old-school stylistic preference for the Fender Precision Bass, strung with flatwound stringsplayed with a pick or fingerstyle, that grooves and "serves the song."

VICTOR SANDERS, Electric Guitar

Victor is a sound engineer, producer and guitarist. His guit"art"work uses technical processing alongside creative prowress; adding ambiance and theatrics to suit the mood of every song. With decades of performing alongside songwriters, Victor's playing simply makes jaws drop and adds palpable excitement and atmosphere to the stage.

MEG THOMAS, Percussion

Drummer and percussionist Meg Thomas has performed in musical realms that range from rock to calypso, avant-garde to spoken word, latin-jazz to punk, and dance ensembles to percussion ensembles.  Meg has acquired years of performance, recording, and teaching experience as well as having toured the U.S. and Europe. 

In addition to having obtained a degree in Music, performing in a wide spectrum of musical settings has helped contribute to her creativity and unique approach to each new musical endeavor.  ​Her drum and percussion set-ups range from the traditional ideas to unique set-ups that incorporate a vast range of percussion instruments. 

Meg won runner-up "Rising Star Percussionist" in Drum! Magazine's 2010 Drummie Awards and was named "Musician of the Month" for January 2013 by the Chicago Music Guide. Meg is part of the The Vic Firth drumstick and mallet company's Education Team as a Vic Firth Private Drum Teacher, teaches lessons out of her studio in Chicago, and has been a panelist for education seminars and panels.  She has endorsements with Sabian Cymbals, Vic Firth Sticks and Mallets, Evans Drumheads, LP Percussion, PureSound Percussion, and Humes & Berg Cases. Meg teaches private lessons for drum set, congas, bongos, snare drum, djembe, classical percussion, timbales, among other percussion instruments. Meg founded and runs the Chicago Women's Drumming Group. See www.megthomaspercussion.com to learn more. 

Plus, special guests have graced the stage for various shows including Martin Lang (Blues Harp), Kevin Rush (Guitar), the late great Mickey Thomas (Guitar), Derek Henderson (Drums) and Marlon Washington (Violin/Vocals).