Franklin started teaching himself guitar when he was 10 years old. By junior high school, he had also learned some piano and drums and was becoming an accomplished song writer. He studied Music Theory and Piano in college and spent most of his early adulthood learning to record and produce; occasionally working with a variety of Tulsa talent Including Grammy winning Producer Gordon Shryock, guitarist Mac Ross, and  bassist Dave Armstrong, just to name a few. Though he never played professionally until he was almost 30 years old, Franklin brought a lot of ideas and ability to the band Remix; a laboratory of sorts where he honed his musical skills even further. While Madd Daddy continued wowing local club audiences, he was also working on an original music project: Stone Soup which eventually released 2 albums from which 2 singles crept onto the national charts. Stone Soup played extensively in Tulsa and the surrounding area for several years and opened for The Little River Band, Marshall Tucker Band and Cheap Trick.