Randall Franks

Randall Franks
“The Appalachian Ambassador of the Fiddle”

Actor/entertainer Randall Franks is best known as “Officer Randy Goode” from TV’s “In the Heat of the Night,” a role he performed on NBC and CBS from 1988-1993. He is currently part of the cast of "Robert Townsend's Musical Theater of Hope" on Gospel Music Channel. He has co-starred or starred in six films with superstars including Dolly Parton, Christian Slater, and Stella Parton and legendary western star “Doc” Tommy Scott. His most recent film “The Flamingo Rising” with William Hurt for Hallmark Hall of Fame as “Officer Randy Kraft.”
Franks’s musical stylings have been heard in 150 countries and by more than 25 million Americans. His musical career boasts 15 album releases, 19 singles, and over 200 recordings with various artists from various genres. The award-winning fiddler’s best selling release, "Handshakes and Smiles" was a top twenty Christian music seller. Many of his albums were among the top 30-bluegrass recordings of their release year. The Atlanta Country Music Hall of Fame member shared a top country vocal collaboration with Grand Ole Opry stars The Whites. In addition to his solo career, Franks is a former member of Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys, Jim and Jesse's Virginia Boys and has performed with Jeff and Sheri Easter, The Lewis Family, the Marksmen Quartet, Elaine and Shorty, “Doc” Tommy Scott’s Last Real Old Time Medicine Show and Doodle and the Golden River Grass.
He serves on the Ringgold City Council and is past chairman of the Catoosa Citizens for Literacy, which assists individuals in learning to read and pursuing a GED at its Catoosa County Learning Center near Ringgold, Ga. He is also president of the Share America Foundation, Inc. that provides the Pearl and Floyd Franks Scholarship to musicians continuing the traditional music of Appalachia. He hosts a monthly concert series at the historic Ringgold Depot which helps fund the scholarships.
He authored three books including “Stirring Up Success with a Southern Flavor” and “Stirring Up Additional Success with a Southern Flavor” with Shirley Smith, and “Snake Oil, Superstars and Me” with “Doc” Tommy Scott and Shirley Swiesz.
He is a syndicated columnist with his column “Southern Style” appears weekly in newspapers from North Carolina to Texas. He was included among his generation’s leading country humorists in the recent Loyal Jones book “Country Music Humorists and Comedians.”