Show Me the Way Home, Honey

Frankie Chavez is one of the most promising talents of the new Portuguese music; he has been referred to as the latest Blues revelation of southern Europe. His music combines a diverse array of sounds resulting in a Blues/Folk composed by clean sounds and others more raw and psychedelic.

Although one can identify many different musical influences (Robert Johnson, Jimi Hendrix, Kelly Joe Phelps, Ry Cooder) it is difficult to find one single word to define his music. This sets him with a unique and distinctive style.

A multi-instrumentalist, Frankie Chavez uses several guitars, with different tunings, personalized drums and a wide number of effect pedals. When he overlaps different guitar layers with a loop station, he creates a rich and aggressive sonority, where nothing is left out of place. Through his warm tone and strikingly intimate lyrics he creates a deep closeness with the listeners.

Besides addressing typical blues instruments such as the lap slide guitar, one of Frankie’s unique characteristics is his revolutionary approach to the Portuguese Guitar. With a very distinctive tuning, he mixes the traditional “sorrow melody” of this instrument with blues riffs, creating a completely different sonority. The result is pleasantly surprising.

His path as a singer songwriter started in 2006 with “Slight Delay”, theme that was included in “Flavours”, a documentary about the Indonesian surf culture and lifestyle.

In 2009 he composed and co-produced the original soundtrack for the documentary film “PARE, ESCUTE, OLHE” by Portuguese director Jorge Pelicano. This documentary won several prizes, including the Best Portuguese Documentary at DocLisboa09 and the Environment Big Prize at Cine Eco 09.

In March 2010 Frankie Chavez released a self titled EP and in January 2011 he finishes the recording of his first album entitled “Family Tree”.

In 2011 he composed and co-produced another soundtrack for the documentary “The North Canyon Show”, that focused Hawaiian big wave rider Garrett Mcnamara surfin some of the biggest waves in the world, in the village of Nazaré, Portugal.

He has performed in Portugal’s most important venues and festivals where he shared stage with musicians like Max Romeo, Gentleman, James Hunter, Amy MacDonald among others.