Frank Turner | Acoustic Punk

In many ways, Frank is the perfect name for this well-loved singer-songwriter, producer, and eternal punk rock firebrand. 

Kind of like the many tattoos that adorn his arms, Frank Turner wears his heart right on his sleeve. Always unstintingly honest in all his artistic endeavours, Frank's music carries a candour and conviction that's incredibly powerful – devastating, even. Frank always manages always to have the ability to connect directly with the human heart – whether sharing tenderly of his own life's journey through his songs, or pushing back with snarling ferocity against fascism and injustice, his music resounds with urgency, authenticity, and humanity. No matter if you're talking about the all-out sonic assault of his fearsome band, Frank Turner and the Sleeping Souls, or – equally powerfully –  when Frank is in the intimate solo acoustic mode that we experience on this episode. 

As we'll hear during this Hidden Track Session, Frank Turner is an astoundingly intelligent and acute observer of the human condition, a seemingly tireless road dog, a devoted music nerd of the very highest order, and a truly humble soul. 

He carved out some time between shows to join us in CKUA Live Performance Space in Edmonton, as he passed through on a relentless world tour celebrating his triumphant 2024 release, Undefeated. The record arrives on the heels of his 2022 album FTHC (for Frank Turner Hardcore) which – 15 years into his solo discography – saw this folk-punk troubadour shoot all the way up to Number One on the British Album Chart! For context, other artists to score UK Number One albums that year were people like Ed Sheeran, Beyonce, and Taylor Swift. 

But rather than try to repeat that formula for success, Frank decided to take the opportunity to instead to make this new album without a major label; and for the first time in his ten albums to date, to produce it entirely himself, in his own home studio. 

And as Frank tells us, the songs on Undefeated are mostly derived from stories drawn from his own life journey. In conversation, Frank is a fount of wonderful stories, insights, jokes, and esoteric music trivia – while as a songwriter and performer, he distills all of his brilliance down to a razor-sharp point. Along with a characteristically brilliant conversation with Frank, we're treated to an absolutely exquisite, heartfelt performance of three songs from Frank's new album, solo acoustic in CKUA studios: "Letters", "Girl from the Record Shop", and one of his most beautiful compositions to date, "Somewhere in Between". 

Host: Grant Stovel | Producer: Scott Zielsdorf | Recording/Mastering: Brendan Cross | Music: Doug Hoyer