Americana

Concert performance for release of Evolution, nine-time GRAMMY® award winner Sheryl Crow’s 11^th full- length studio album, will take place on March 23rd at The Franklin Theatre; Concert to be filmed and televised nationally on PBS

Sheryl Crow and The Franklin Theatre today announced that the nine-time GRAMMY® Award-winner and 2023 Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame inductee will celebrate the release of her 11th full-length studio album, Evolution, at The Franklin Theatre on March 23^rd, 2024 with a special concert event.

Tickets are available to Franklin Theatre Loyalty Club members today, with public on-sale this Friday (3/8) at 11 a.m. via The Franklin Theatre’s website: Tickets HERE

The concert will be filmed and broadcast to a national audience on PBS later in the year, marking the first in a series of special events at the Franklin Theatre.

The new album, which features nine new songs, was produced by Mike Elizondo (Dr. Dre, Maroon 5, Keith Urban, Gary Clark Jr) and John Shanks (the track “Do It Again”) will be released via The Valory Music Co. on March 29^th. Evolution is available for pre-order HERE. The album’s stunning title track featuring guitarist Tom Morello is out now. Listen HERE and check out the lyric video HERE. A deluxe version of the album includes the bonus track “Digging In The Dirt,” a classic Peter Gabriel song, with backing vocals by Gabriel himself, available this Friday, March 8^th.

Evolution is Sheryl Crow at her most authentically human self. “This music and these lyrics came from sitting in the quiet and writing from a deep soul place,” she explains. “I said I’d never make another record, thought there was no point to it. But this music comes from my soul, and I hope whoever hears this record can feel that.”

NEW SINGLE “WAITING FOR YOU” WITH HARMONY VOCALS BY LUCIUS OUT NOW. ARTIST TO EMBARK ON TOUR OF NASHVILLE IN MAY

Grammy-and Oscar-winner T Bone Burnett will release his first solo album in nearly 20 years, The Other Side, April 19 on Verve Forecast. The album’s lead single, “Waiting For You,” with Lucius on harmony vocals, is out today. Watch the visualizer HERE and preorder the album HERE.

Burnett will also play his first full-length concerts in two decades, embarking on a tour of Nashville that begins at the Franklin Theatre on May 3, continues at The Blue Room at Third Man Records on May 9, and concludes at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s CMA Theater on May 10. Tickets go on sale Friday, March 1 at 9am CST, and information can be found HERE.

The Other Side is a return to Burnett’s roots as a singer and songwriter, delving deeply into the myriad genres of American Music. The 12-song collection is centered on a love story, following the journey of a couple that may no longer be of this plane. Co-produced by Colin Linden, Mike Piersante and

Burnett, the album features longtime friends Rosanne Cash and early bandmate Steven Soles, newer artists Lucius and Weyes Blood, and trusted musical companions including Dennis Crouch, Stuart Duncan, Jay Bellerose, and Rory Hoffman.

A deeply personal work, The Other Side features some of the richest vocals and most direct songs of the artist’s long career.

Following his dystopic The Invisible Light series, The Other Side reflects a new outlook and approach Burnett didn’t even know he was seeking. While the album includes some songs Burnett had tinkered with before, the bulk of the record materialized in a sudden burst of writing after he finally allowed himself to buy some new guitars. “Every time I picked one up, a song would pour out of it,” he recalls of this near-magical spark of creativity. “There were all these songs in these guitars. And they just came out over a three-week period.”

When Burnett was making his new record, he was thinking a lot about “you.”

“I was reading a news story that some shocking percentage of number one hit songs had the word you in the title,” he says, and started contemplating who all those “yous” are and what it means when an artist puts them in a song. He realized that for many years, when he worked on his own solo albums as a singer-songwriter—in between acclaimed stints of coaxing the best work out of a wildly diverse set of artists as a producer or curating ideal soundtracks for an equally disparate group of films and series—he had been “tough” on listeners.

“I view the purpose of art as creating conscience, so I was constantly appealing to people’s consciences,” he says of a solo career that stretches back to the mid- ‘70s, “but I realized when a songwriter uses the word you, he is, of course, in the world of conscience, but he’s also in the world of people’s dreams. And when you enter into people’s dreams, you have to be very careful with them.”

This return to form fits seamlessly in the contemporary cultural landscape shaped so heavily by Burnett’s career in the arts. Working on The Other Side, he sought to care for himself as an artist in the same manner he has helped shepherd so many others in the studio and ended up finding himself in the process.

Full casting has been revealed for the Nashville premiere of ONLY HOPE: A MUSICAL TRIBUTE TO A WALK TO REMEMBER, which plays the historic Franklin Theatre in Franklin, Tennessee, from Thursday, April 25th, through Sunday, April 28th, 2024.

Joining the cast will be CONNOR BARR as Clay Gephardt, BOURKE FLOYD (Dawson’s Creek, RENT) as Worth Carter, TANIA JOY as Cynthia Carter, DANI KUCERA as Tracy Sparks, ROBERT MANNIS as Reverend Sullivan, CASSADEE POPE (The Voice Season 3 winner) as Belinda Foreman, and RICHAUN STEWART as Eric Janzen.

They join original cast members BRIAN LOGAN DALES (frontman of pop-punk band The Summer Set) and JANEL PARRISH (Pretty Little Liars, To All The Boys I Loved Before) as Landon and Jamie, respectively.

Based on the beloved novel by Nicholas Sparks and unforgettable Warner Bros. film (starring Mandy Moore and Shane West), and featuring songs from and inspired by the film’s iconic soundtrack, the unofficial stage show tells the moving story of too-cool-for-school Landon Carter and devout Jamie Sullivan, two teenagers from different social circles whose lives intersect unexpectedly in the small town of Beaufort, South Carolina. Just as their unlikely friendship becomes something more, Landon learns Jamie has leukemia, but before she goes, she’ll leave a lasting impact on his heart, teaching him everything about life, hope, and the long journey ahead.

With adaptation by JORDAN ROSS SCHINDLER (co-creator of Cruel Intentions: The ’90s Musical) and music direction and arrangements by ELMO ZAPP, Only Hope evokes nostalgia from the novel and film, while reminding us of the profound impact love and faith can have on our lives.

Don’t miss this opportunity to experience one of Nicholas Sparks’ most cherished stories live on stage!

Get Tickets!

In honor of April being National Volunteer Month, Jeff Miller of Millbrook Farms has graciously gifted a handful of NOOK volunteers tickets to the Deborah Allen concert at the Franklin Theatre. The performance is scheduled for the evening of Saturday, April 15th, at 8:00 p.m.

NOOK, which stands for Needs of Our Kids, is a local organization that partners with schools in our community to eliminate barriers to education for kids in crisis. Their mission is to support school staff in the Franklin Special School District and the schools of Williamson County as they work to ensure that all students enter the classroom ready to learn and succeed by achieving their highest potential.

Don’t miss your chance to enjoy this spectacular event! Come experience world-class entertainment in this celebrated venue, and purchase your tickets HERE.

The Franklin Theatre is excited to announce a re-launch of its movie offerings with a new curated, themed movie-going experience in collaboration with Chad Gilbert of New Found Glory and founder of the highly successful Movie Gang series at the Theatre.

Movie offerings fall into four distinct themes: Sci Fi Sundays, Rock & Roll Mondays, Throwback Thursday Comedy Nights, and Family Forever Matinee Saturdays. Tickets are already on sale for the series kick off on Thursday, April 6^th with Adam Sandler’s Happy Gilmore.

Tickets go on sale Friday, April 7^th for the following showings:

• Big – Saturday, April 29^th
• Talladega Nights – Thursday, May 11^th
• A Star Is Born – Monday, May 22^nd
• La Bamba – Monday, May 29^th
• Walk The Line – Thursday, June 5^th
• Bohemian Rhapsody – Monday, June 12^th
• The Martian – Sunday, July 2^nd

“We’re so happy to present a movie series for everyone,” said Eric Dilts, Managing Director of The Franklin Theatre. “Seeing a film on the big screen in our historic theatre is an unmatched experience. As our community continues to grow, these showings offer more opportunities for The Franklin Theatre to be a gathering in beautiful Downtown Franklin, Tennessee.”

This new series gives movie fans the chance to watch their favorite shows on the big screen again in a beautiful, art-deco inspired auditorium. Themed lighting and decorations, concessions and drink specials, and coordinated pre-show music will make these showings a more immersive experience than a typical night at the movies.

Opening in 1937 with the film Night Must Fall, starring Robert Montgomery and Rosalind Russell, The Franklin Theatre has been a home for movies in Franklin’s Historic Downtown since its beginning. Even through its renovation and reopening, movies have remained a key focal point in The Franklin Theatre’s programming efforts.

“Movies at The Franklin Theatre are a pastime we love and stand by,” added Chad Gilbert. “With this new series, we’re creating a more intentional home for movie lovers in Franklin and Middle Tennessee.”

For ticket information, visit www.franklintheatre.com/movies or call 615-538-2076.

The film, set on the Natchez Trace, follows the events surrounding the death of the famed American explorer & will feature Q & A with Director & Actor

A story of the allegedly unresolved 1809 demise of a national hero, Mysterious Circumstance, directed by Clark Richey, sheds light on Meriwether Lewis’s death by gunshot on the Natchez Trace, an isolated frontier road connecting Nashville, Tennessee, to Natchez, Mississippi. The film explores if the famed explorer committed suicide as history reports or was his end far more sinister?

In the film, entangled versions of Lewis’s tragic ending at a remote Tennessee inn are imagined by his friend Alexander Wilson (Billy Slaughter, Mindhunter) during a tense encounter with Priscilla Grinder (Gousset, The Card Counter) – the only witness to Lewis’s final night alive. The historical thriller brings together an award-winning cast and crew that includes Schneider (The Dukes of Hazzard), Sonny Marinelli (Entourage) and Evan Williams (Versailles) as Lewis.

“We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to premiere Mysterious Circumstance, at the historic Franklin Theatre,” said Eric Dilts, Managing Director of The Franklin Theatre. “Set just southwest of Franklin, this film is an opportunity for us to shine a light on the rich, and sometimes complicated, history of Middle Tennessee.”

In addition to the screening of Mysterious Circumstance, the evening will include brief remarks before the film and a Q & A with writer & director Clark Richey and Amye Gousset, lead actress & producer immediately following.

Tickets and more information can be found at www.franklintheatre.com/mysterious-circumstance/. Tickets are also available by calling 615-538-2076, or visiting the box office at 419 Main Street, Franklin, TN.

The concert, written by Franklin, TN residents Douglas Waterbury-Tieman and Annabelle Fox, will feature veterans of the stage and screen.

The Franklin Theatre will play host to a concert version of JOHNNY & THE DEVIL’S BOX, a Broadway-bound bluegrass musical, on September 16^th, 2022.

Written by Franklin, TN local and Belmont University graduate Douglas Waterbury-Tieman, and boasting a creative team of Broadway veterans, including Scott Wasserman (Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen, The Great Comet) and Jennifer Jancuska (Hamilton), JOHNNY & THE DEVIL’S BOX tells the story of a boastful fiddle player who attracts the attention of the Devil in his aim to prove his skills.

“Johnny & The Devil’s Box is an exciting and unique opportunity for The Franklin Theatre to present world-class performing arts experiences to our community,” said Eric Dilts, Managing Director of The Franklin Theatre. “Audiences will love its lively, bluegrass score, conceived right here in the heart of Middle Tennessee. We are honored to be part of the development history of this highly praised new musical theatre work and look forward to watching this musical become a hit in Tennessee and beyond.”

“We have such a history with the Franklin Theatre, having performed there many times over the years with Studio Tenn,” said Waterbury-Tieman. “Now to be able to bring our original music to the stage with such an incredible cast of guest artists is an incredible honor. We can’t wait to watch the audience tap their feet to the fiddle in our very favorite theatre.”

The musical’s journey began locally at Belmont University where Waterbury-Tieman conceived of the work, along the way presenting a 29-Hour reading with Studio Tenn. Momentum quickly gained for the show until plans for a production at the Tony Award Winning Goodspeed Opera House were put on hold due to the pandemic’s shut down of Broadway. The Franklin Theatre’s engagement is an opportunity to present a distinct concert interpretation of the show for audiences prior to its full production Regional Premiere this November at the Cumberland County Playhouse in Crossville, TN.

The Franklin Theatre concert will feature Waterbury-Tieman alongside his wife Annabelle Fox (No Strings Off Broadway Revival), Matthew Carlton (The Doyle and Debbie Show, Nash Rep’s Ragtime), Rachel Potter (X-Factor; Broadway’s Addams Family, Evita), A.J. Smith (The Kelly Clarkson Show), Jake Speck (Broadway’s Jersey Boys; Nashville), with more to be announced. The supporting band will feature Zach and Maggie White, Laura Ray and Ben Jones, with Matt Logan serving as Consulting Producer.

Tickets can be found at www.franklintheatre.com/johnny-devils-box. Tickets are also available by calling 615-538-2076, or visiting the box office at 419 Main Street, Franklin, TN.

Ecclectic holiday-themed live performances include The Gatlin Brothers, The World Famous Glenn Miller Orchestra, Melinda Doolittle, and Studio Tenn’s “A Christmas Carol,”among others

The Franklin Theatre invites the community to make their holiday plans early by securing tickets to a variety of holiday-themed performances.  During the month of July, The Franklin Theatre will put tickets on sale to the majority of its holiday programming, beginning with 10 live shows, Friday, July 15 at 11:00 AM.

“We’ve been working very hard and are delighted to share our holiday programming with everyone,” said The Franklin Theatre’s Managing Director, Eric Dilts. “Our calendar has something for everyone this holiday season, with fan favorites along with some new and diverse acts as well. It’s thanks to the support and feedback from our incredible community that we can offer such an exciting lineup.”

As an added benefit, patrons that purchase any “Christmas in July” show will be entered to win a Franklin Theatre prize package that includes Franklin Theatre Merchandise, concessions and (non-holiday) movie vouchers, and a $100 Franklin Theatre gift card.

See the full “Christmas In July” lineup of live shows here!

Atmos Energy will serve as the Presenting Sponsor for this series, running July 13-17

FRANKLIN, TN (July 6, 2022) – The Franklin Theatre is pleased to announce Atmos Energy as the presenting sponsor for its “Summer Pay What You Can” movie screenings to be held July 13th to July 17th.

These screenings are a way for Williamson County residents and visitors to engage with the historic theatre at a low cost while supporting the theatre’s mission and vision.

“We’re excited to invite the public into our beautiful theatre for a week of Pay What You Can movies,” said Eric Dilts, Managing Director of The Franklin Theatre. “Partnering with organizations like Atmos Energy gives us the ability to offer more low- and no-cost programming to our community. We can’t thank Atmos enough for their support.”

“Through our Fueling Safe and Thriving Communities program, we believe in making a difference in the communities we serve by partnering with vital organizations like The Franklin Theatre,” said Christina Christiansen, Atmos Energy manager of public affairs. “The Franklin Theatre is committed to providing everyone with the opportunity to experience the arts. When we work together, we multiply the impact for our neighbors.”

The Summer Pay What You Can lineup will include “The Bad Guys,” “Fantastic Beasts: Secrets of Dumbledor,” “Sonic The Hedgehog 2,” “The Lost City,” and “The Northman.” A total of 8 matinee and evening screenings will be held during the July 13-17 Pay What You Can series.

Complete dates and showtimes can be found at www.franklintheatre.com/tickets/movies/. The recommended donation is the normal movie ticket price of $10, but any level of donation will be welcomed during this week.

Learn more about Atmos Energy at www.atmosenergy.com.

On June 22nd, 2022, The Franklin Theatre hosted the Middle Tennessee premiere of Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis” to a full house of local celebrities, actors, musicians, and theatre donors. The Warner Bros. Pictures film, which premiered on June 24th, explores the relationship between Elvis (played by Austin Butler) and his enigmatic manager, Colonel Tom Parker (played by Tom Hanks).

Among those in attendance were Nashville-based music producer and composer Shannon Sanders, The McCrary Sisters, and two of Elvis’ former bandmates, Tony Brown and Larry Strickland. Sanders moderated a short panel with Brown and Strickland who shared memories and insights from their time working with Elvis.

Sanders, who plays a pentecostal pastor in the film, surprised the crowd with a video call from director “Baz Luhrmann.” Luhrmann thanked everyone for their attendance and support and signed off by leading a chant of “it’s time to take care of business!”

This event served as both a film premiere and a fundraiser for the non-profit The Franklin Theatre. Events like this help us further our mission of providing world-class performing arts experiences to diverse Williamson County residents and visitors. We’d like to thank our staff for their hard work in producing this high-quality event, our advisory board for their continued leadership and oversight, our 1937 Society members, our Franklin Theatre donors, and all who attended on Wednesday. Special thanks to our in-kind event partners Cromwell Media, 102.1 The Ville, Menu Maker Catering, Leiper’s Fork Distillery, Curio Brewing Company, and Bite Club Baked Goods.

The Franklin Theatre ‘Elvis’ Premiere Press Coverage:

• Williamson Homepage >