Born in Tucson, Arizona at the tail end of spring, Cancion learned early on that everyone starts with the same blank deck of cards.

“So I figured I might as well follow my dreams,” he said. “The risk is about the same whether I play it safe or not.”

That's become his mantra of sorts, and it’s part of what has guided him through thick and thin.

A notable quote from writer Graham Greene says "There is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in.” Cancion believes his future peeked through that door when he was 16. At that point, he was trying to listen to Indie Folk just like everyone else was doing. He hated it but thought it was the thing to do. “It felt like the only game in town."

Around that time, he was given an Alligator Records CD compilation of 30 years of Chicago Blues. Those first few lead lines on Howlin' Wolf's "Spoonful" changed him. He saw “how those guys were so sad and cool at the same time; they had a swagger to their despair that I wanted.” He was a “desperate young kid running up against the limitations of life.”

That music seemed to know things about him that he couldn't possibly describe at the time.

Cancion saw how those guys performed alchemy with their desperation; they turned lead into gold with their guitars. It was right then when he knew he didn't have a chance to deal with what was inside of him without learning to do that.

There are, however, family stories of how Cancion would dance to Taj Mahal in a high chair as a baby. Maybe that door to his future opened up a lot earlier in his life; or perhaps one could argue that it opened the moment his parents named him ‘Cancion’, which means song in Spanish.

When asked how he would explain to a child in one sentence what his music is about, he quickly answers this: “It's about how things are pretty even when they are hard.”

That sums up in a sentence why Canción’s raw guitar leads and heartfelt lyrics deliver a powerful, authentic and unforgettable experience.

One thing is for sure, with his music, he brings deep grooves of American roots, Country, Soul, and Rock n’ Roll to life with every performance. Whether performing solo, as a hired-gun or with a full band, Canción Franklin captivates audiences with his vulnerable presence and skillfully gifted command of the guitar.