Frank Watkinson, the 71-year-old English singer/songwriter and YouTuber took second place in the 2021 American Songwriter Song Contest with “This Could Be My Last Song.” Since then, he’s continued to do what put him on our radar—writing songs and performing covers for his ever-growing audience from his home in Huntington England.
Recently, Watkinson sat down with American Songwriter to catch up on life after the Song Contest, his ever-growing YouTube channel, and more.
[RELATED: The 3 Winners of the 2021 American Songwriter Song Contest + 10 Honorable Mentions]
Frank Atkinson on His Life After the Song Contest
“I’ve just been doing the same as I always do. I write songs not to be heard by anybody and I do covers and I just started putting them on YouTube,” Atkinson said of what he’s been doing since the Song Contest. “A couple of the covers went a bit viral. I did a cover of a Slipknot song, ‘Snuff.’ That’s had over five million views now. Since then, quite a few of them have gone viral. There’s one now taking off at the moment, I covered a Billie Eilish song. It was so simple, I never expected anyone to bother with it but her fans got ahold of it and she even posted it on her TikTok,” he explained.
About entering the contest, he said, “I wrote that song and I’ve got a friend in America and he said he really liked it and that I should send it off to American Songwriter. So I did, not expecting to hear anything and I came in second which was quite nice.”
Watkinson added, “I’m not the best guitar player. Everything is like four or five-chord songs. Simple. I’m letting people see that you can still play a song even if you’re only playing a few chords.”
Watkinson’s Quickly-Growing YouTube Channel
Frank Watkinson says he never meant for anyone to hear the songs he wrote. He also has no desire to go out and play gigs. However, he has built a large, loyal, and wholesome community with his channel. As he continues to post, his subscriber count grows. Fortunately, he seems to attract the right kind of attention on the platform.
“When I posted the ‘Snuff’ cover I think I had 30,000 subscribers and I was over the moon. Within a week I had 330,000 just because of that video. Then, it’s happened a couple of more times. Last time I looked, I was 25,000 off of a million now. That’s all I want. I want to get a million, get a gold trophy, then pack it in,” he said, laughing.
After mentioning the Gold Play Button for one million subscribers, we asked him about the Silver Play Button for 100,000 subscribers. “I’ve got that,” he said. “But you see the YouTubers who have them hanging up in the background. Mine’s in the box on the floor by the computer. I’ve got nowhere to put it where it would show really. And I try not to show off, but I have a grandson and if he comes around and brings a friend, I show them. They go mad when they see it,” he added with a hint of pride in his voice.
Building a Wholesome Community
“With me, on YouTube, you’re getting honesty. I don’t claim to be a singer and I don’t claim to be a guitar player either. I do the best with what I’ve got. Of course, I’ve got the age on my side, I can play the old man card,” he said, explaining the draw of his content.
“I remind so many people of their granddad. That’s why I started calling myself the Virtual Granddad on YouTube. I kept getting comments asking ‘Will you be my granddad?’ and kept saying ‘Yeah, okay,’” he explained. “There are loads of people on there saying my channel is their safe place on the internet. The comments are so nice. I also heart every comment as well. It’s just being polite, really. My thing is if they’re prepared to sit there and write a comment, I can be there to read it quickly and give them a heart to let them know I read it.”
Frank Watkinson Had a Song on TV
While Frank Watkinson doesn’t seem to crave fame or recognition, he has found acclaim outside of the internet. “When I got that second place prize, almost at the same time I got an email from AppleTV. I did a cover of a Death Cab for Cutie song ‘I’ll Follow You into the Dark’ and they wanted to use it for a TV show,” Watkinson recalled. “It was Home Before Dark season 2 episode 7. This girl is trying to save a sparrow in the garden but she doesn’t save it. So they hold a little funeral for it and that’s when I start singing,” he explained of the scene in which his song appears. However, having the entire viewership of the series hear his voice was only part of this achievement.
“But that’s not what really made me happy. What really made me happy was in the next episode, a main character dies and a Cat Stevens song plays at his funeral. He’s a hero of mine, Cat Stevens. That made my day. I’m in the same show as Cat Stevens,” he said.
Watkinson on Being Compared to Johnny Cash
No one would mistake Frank Watkinson’s voice for that of Johnny Cash. However, something about his recordings may remind listeners of Cash’s version of “Hurt.” Members of the American Songwriter team came to this conclusion while listening to his rendition of “Creep” above. It turns out that we were not alone in making the comparison.
“I get that even with this Billie Eilish cover and the ‘Snuff’ cover. People are saying ‘It’s like we’ve got Johnny Cash back. It’s like his version of the Nine Inch Nails song,’” Watkinson revealed. “It’s weird. I don’t think I sound like Johnny Cash at all,” he added.
Frank Watkinson Reflects on “This Could Be My Last Song”
“I think somebody wrote it for me in a dream because I had the chorus and I didn’t have any lyrics,” Watkinson said of the song that brought him the second-place win. “I just sat and it sort of came to me. It just came out. Maybe it was something inside. It was one of the simplest songs and probably one of my best songs, to be honest,” he recalled.
“Then, people started to analyze it more than I had. I got so many comments from people analyzing the lyrics. ‘This is a man that’s getting to the end of his life’ and all this lot. It was really just a song that came out so quick. I wish I could get all deep and meaningful but I can’t. I can’t lie,” Watkinson added.
“No one was more surprised than me when they told me I’d gotten second prize for it.”
Featured Image Courtesy of Frank Watkinson
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