[2] After graduating from Michigan in 1969 with a degree in English literature, he moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts[2] to attend Episcopal Theological School.
[2] In addition to his performing career, he teaches songwriting workshops and in 1990, wrote a set of songs for a ballet based on The Velveteen Rabbit.
In 1999, the young adult novel Hard Love by Ellen Wittlinger, in which Franke's song of the same name features heavily, was published.
Many of his songs have been covered by other artists, including Kathy Mattea, June Tabor, Garnet Rogers, Claudia Schmidt, John McCutcheon, Peter, Paul and Mary, and others.
The song "Kristallnacht Is Coming" on his album The Heart of the Flower draws parallels between the Holocaust and Americans' attitudes towards immigrants during the 1990s and "El Niño" (on The Desert Questions) protests Proposition 187.