Miami Beach, FL – Singer-songwriter Brian Franklin, a long familiar face within South Florida’s rock-pop scene, has completed Desert Farmer - his first full length release in nearly 8 years. The album’s nine songs loosely trace the plight of non-combatants both here and abroad and features artists such as Diane Ward, Matthew Sabatella, Arlan Feiles, Emily Easterly, Jack Shawde, Alex Diaz, Rat Bastard, Ken Franklin, and The Numb Ones’ Russ Rogers. The album also features “Bullet Butterfly” - Franklin’s first songwriting collaboration with friend and Nine-Music artist Dean Fields.

Desert Farmer marks the third album recorded and co-produced by Franklin and Rat (Frank Falestra) Bastard. The pair worked together for Franklin’s 1995 debut Suburban Hallucinations, his 1996 release Stir Fried World, and a promotional 2 song CD in 1999. Franklin and his band Tumbleman nearly finished most of a full-band album with producer/engineer Oz Fritz (Tom Waits, John Hammond, Bill Laswell) but problems with financing have led to its delay.

“Rat’s been inviting me down for a while to record acoustically – for fun - and once we started it sort-of spiraled into a more complicated, aggressive album,” said Franklin.

While the political themes and war allusions have long been part of Franklin’s songwriting – Desert Farmer is a more focused and conceptual effort. The album takes the listener on a dark path that starts only slightly more optimistic than it ends; even the most hopeful line, “In my dreams… the streets are clean, and we all stand together,” is stated doubtfully. The final song, with lyrics by Franklin and melody by Fields, has the protagonist helpless to do anything but comfort a soldier’s widow.

Inspired by the news of the past four years, Franklin hopes the album will call more attention to civilians whose lives have been shattered by conflicts beyond their control.