With the top of his Amati fiddle covered in rosin dust and the dust still flying in the air around him, entertainer/actor Randall Franks walks off the Colonnade stage in Ringgold, Ga. into the darkness. As he turns the corner the light from the dressing room washes across his face. He sees youth banjo player Dawson Wright and guitarist Caleb Lewis going full steam on a tune, he lifts his fiddle, tucks it beneath his chin and joins in.
It was much the same scene that played out 40 years ago as he walked off the stage at Jekyll Island Convention Center, except he was the youth, and the musician in the dressing room was Bill Monroe – the Father of Bluegrass Music.
Monroe heard something he liked in the young fiddler that Bluegrass Unlimited described back then as ‘hard-driving and straight-ahead’ and when the tune was finished, according to Franks, Monroe asked him, ‘Do you know how to play Katy Hill.’ Franks obliged, and in only a way the creator of a music genre could say, ‘That there is not the way you play Katy Hill.’ The fiddler did not expect to hear that response, and thought he had embarrassed himself in front of his hero, but instead it opened the door to his first one-on-one lesson with the Country, Bluegrass, and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member.
“I could have never imagined what was ahead,” Franks said. “Mr. Bill became a friend and he took me on and began mentoring me as a musician and as a band leader.”
Randall Franks (left) plays Back Up and Push with Bill Monroe (right) and Blake Williams at the Dahlonega Bluegrass Festival in June 1984. (Randall Franks Media: Betty Needham)
In the course of the next couple of years, Franks saw Monroe ask him to perform with his Blue Grass Boys in Nashville, on festivals and shows and also arrange for his youth act – the Peachtree Pickers to debut and make repeat appearances for the Grand Ole Opry. When fiddler Kenny Baker left Monroe’s band after two decades in the fall of 1984, it was Franks that Monroe asked to fill his shoes as a Blue Grass Boy. So, Franks left school, climbed on Monroe’s bus and toured from Washington state back to the east coast playing both fiddle and bass, before returning to school.
“I think Randy is a good Southern boy, a fine musician, and a real good trouper,” Monroe said of his Blue Grass Boy mentee in 1985.
When Monroe first brought Randall to Nashville, he worked alongside his son James Monroe, also a renowned bluegrass artist, as the father and son built the Bill Monroe Bluegrass Hall of Fame on Music Valley Drive.
“I helped with construction, and worked with Bluegrass Unlimited founder Pete Kuykendall, James and others as we designed and laid out the exhibits placing the artists’ artifacts,” he said. “I remember thinking I am holding true pieces of American history in my hands as I touched items like Earl Scruggs’ banjo picks preparing them for placement.”
From left are Bill Monroe, June Carter Cash, Johnny Cash and Randall Franks at the Grand Opening of the Bill Monroe Bluegrass Hall of Fame in Nashville in June 1984 in Nashville. (Randall Franks Media)
Franks, later known for his role as “Officer Randy Goode” on TV’s “In the Heat of the Night,” said he was so honored to be part of it all, to be included among Bill’s Blue Grass Boys family. The Hall of Fame opening is where Monroe introduced Franks to Johnny and June Carter Cash and other country and bluegrass legends. Also included in the museum was his youth band – The Peachtree Pickers.
The inspiration given him by his mentor decades ago still flows in his concerts and the music he creates today – even his films.
“For my most recent film ‘The American’s Creed’ and it’s documentary ‘The Making of’, I composed the musical soundtrack to guide the emotions of viewers,” he said. “Working with guitarist Wesley Crider on it, I was reminded of how Mr. Bill and I sat in the motel room on election night 1984. As the returns flowed across the silent television screen, we sat there as Bill wrote a new instrumental tune on his mandolin, he would perfect a phrase, then hand me his mandolin and have me to repeat it.”
Franks said seeing Monroe’s creative process over and over again through their time together, helped him become a better songwriter and tune composer. He said years later he sat beside Monroe in the recording studio as he recorded his final instrumental recordings.
“It was the product of that early inspiration that viewers heard behind the scenes of the film in South Korea, Slovakia, Africa, the U.S. and other countries where our films have screened,” he said.
Franks directs and stars as “Capt. Robert Shields” in “The American’s Creed” screening in international film festivals. Thus far, it was awarded as a finalist in Castle Rock in Colorado, the Tatras International in Slovakia and was featured at the Will Rogers Motion Picture Festival in Oklahoma. The patriotic film and it’s accompanying documentary is set during the American Revolution.
Now a multiple music hall of famer himself, Franks will travel to the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville this fall to attend the 10th Annual Josie Awards where after four decades on the Nashville scene, the fiddler’s recent work garnered a Musician of the Year nomination and another for Inspirational Vocalist of the Year. The second year in a row for both accolades.
He garnered a #1 Cashbox song “God’s Children” with the Watkins Family during this past year.
Bill Monroe (second from right) greets former Blue Grass Boy Randall Franks (right) and his "In the Heat of the Night" co-stars - David Hart (left) and Alan Autry backstage at the Grand Ole Opry in 1991. Franks brought them to make an appearance with him on the Opry. (Randall Franks Media: Donna Tracy)
He recently visited with James Monroe marking their many years of friendship. The duo were last together in 2011 when they were both honored as Bluegrass Legends by the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum for Bill Monroe’s Centennial Celebration in Owensboro, Kentucky.
“My dad was proud of one of his Blue Grass Boys in future years achieving network television stardom as an actor on ‘In the Heat of the Night,’” James said. “To Bill Monroe, and to me, Randall “Randy” Franks was, is, and will always be a Blue Grass Boy. He will always be part of the legacy of Bill Monroe.”
That sentiment is true for others too as the Grand Ole Opry and Bluegrass Unlimited honored him in 1987 alongside Monroe and all the Blue Grass Boys "for their contribution to the American way of life through music.” The State of Kentucky recognized him two decades ago for his work with Monroe. Certainly, as one element of his varied solo career and numerous credentials of work with 33 hall of famers, his start with Monroe, is an element in his induction in the Independent Country Music, America’s Old Time Country Music, Atlanta Country Music, and Tri-State Gospel Music halls of fame.
“I was blessed to work with music legends like Bill Monroe and Jim and Jesse McReynolds,” he said. “All the doors that opened to me in entertainment came from them and others investing in me. Bill Monroe introduced me to the international country music audiences and got me my earliest attention by country music’s movers and shakers.
“All the recordings, the hits, network TV and movie acting stardom, concerts, books grew from him asking me if I knew how to play ‘Katy Hill’ and then letting his star shine upon me when I was in my youth,” Franks said.
Franks experiences and contributions are highlighted at https://www.RandallFranks.com/Bill-Monroe-and-the-Blue-Grass-Boys and in his Encouragers books series.
Fans can now find his film music on the #7 AirPlay Direct Global Americana Album “The American’s Creed” at https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-americans-creed/1743671704 and radio can download it at https://airplaydirect.com/RandallFranksTheAmericansCreed/.
With the support James Monroe and his fellow Blue Grass Boys – Blake Williams, Wayne Lewis and the late Tater Tate, he is releasing two live recordings of him fiddling with Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys – “Back Up and Push” and “The Road to Columbus.” Folks purchasing downloads will be supporting the Share America Foundation, Inc. and it Pearl and Floyd Franks Appalachian Music Scholarships. Also on the album is live music from his Hollywood Hillbilly Jamboree, now in its 79th year, and his tribute to actor Andy Griffith – “What It Was Was Football.”
Franks is highlighting music he learned or performed with Monroe on his live performances through the coming year. Learn more about Randall at www.RandallFranks.com.
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