A lifelong musician and a licensed psychotherapist, David Franklin has spent more than 45 years exploring musical genres and experimenting in sound, evolving as a musician though rock, folk-pop, avant-garde and ultimately to new age and instrumental music. 

Franklin believes that music is one of humanity’s most powerful tools for healing. "The world is really loud right now, and I’m not trying to compete with the noise: I’m creating music for self-connection and healing in these uncertain times."

His newest album - his 10th to date - is titled Passings; it is a collection of 15 new instrumental songs, written and recorded during the pandemic.  It reflects a number of endings - or passings - which have occurred in his life and within our society, such as his children leaving home, the death both his parents, and changes related to the new-normal of our current world. 

The album is anything but downbeat however, with pieces varying in tempo and styles, likened to the music of guitarists Will Ackerman and Michael Hedges, and pianists Nils Frahm and Olafur Arnolds. Fretless bass master Michael Manring is featured on 9 songs, and Franklin’s son, Alex Franklin (aka Owl Licks) is featured on 2 of them.

Born and raised in New Jersey, Franklin taught himself several instruments.  Discovering drums at age 10 and guitar at age 11, he immediately started writing songs; by age 15, he added piano and voice to his musical arsenal. 

He supported himself as a drummer throughout college, while earning a Bachelor's degree in Environmental Science at Penn State University. After college he played keyboards in New York City, performing for three years, while using his environmental degree and taking air samples inside office buildings.

In 1990, his passion for environmental issues connected him with 90 other activists and he joined The Global Walk for a Livable World, a year-long hike across the country, from Los Angeles to New York.  Along the way David spoke at schools, to the media and to politicians about the environment; he also performed music throughout his journey, captured in the 1990 albums, The Global Walk and Our Children’s Only Home.  Afterwards, he moved to California and received his Master’s of Counseling degree and eventually became a psychotherapist; he released several singer-songwriter albums around this time.  

In the past 15 years, David has been writing and performing instrumental music for modern-dance companies (such as Rogelio Lopez and Dancers) and has traveled to Europe and performed there several times with various projects.  David loves working collaboratively with choreographers to create sonic soundscapes for their artistic visions.  Currently, his music is featured on internet radio and in such places as The Spa Channel, and his last 2 albums made the Top 10 on the ZMR Charts. 

His discography includes: David Franklin (self-titled, 1988), The Global Walk (1990), Our Children's Only Home (1990), Patterns Yet Unknown (1992), Strangers & Angels (1998), Shadowlands (2005), Traditional Xmas Melodies (2010), Playing With Shadows (2015), Songs of Potential Embrace (2017), and now Passings (2022).  

In his therapy practice, Franklin works with individuals and families, facilitates men's groups and presents workshops to schools and community organizations. He has written articles for publications, trained future therapists, taught graduate classes in counseling, and guest-lectured at UC Berkeley.