Back in the aughts, Virginia native Rebecca Frazier started gaining acclaim for her bluegrass flat-picking guitar, first with the band Hit & Run, followed up with her 2013 solo release, When We Fall. Then, as they say, life happened, and a career on the road as a bluegrass musician took a back seat to local ambitions, including family and polishing her already formidable skills. Fast forward a decade and her friendship with Grammy-winning producer and engineer Bill Wolf became the catalyst for a new album, Boarding Windows in Paradise.
Let’s start by noting an important point. Although participation varies a little from song to song, her backup band is for all intents and purposes, Bela Fleck, Sam Bush, Stuart Duncan, Barry Bales, and Josh Swift. Money can’t buy that kind of love. Add to that Frazier’s guitar and producer Wolf had a formidable arsenal at his disposal and it gets used to its fullest. High Country Road Trip is a journey of suddenly-found freedom in the Colorado Rockies with instrumental solos playing the part of the winding mountain roads and passes along the Continental Divide. Make Hay While the Moon Shines is also an encouragement to live in the present, full of high energy and spirit with a sly double entendre about meeting in the barn at night. Cantie Reel is the only instrumental track, and it’s distractingly good.
Although much of the record is original compositions, a couple of covers standout. Roy Orbison’s It’s Over gives Frazier a chance to show off her soaring vocals and a range far beyond most bluegrass singers. A remake of Madonna’s 80’s hit, Borderline, is at once familiar and brand new. Back in the original song vein, Available is a tongue-in-cheek look at what it means to wear, or not wear, a wedding band and features Shelby Means and Trey Hensley on harmony vocals. The CD finishes with Hurricane, the source of the record title and a treatise on the climatic trade-offs that come with living in a paradise.
It’s one thing to call in a favor and get a famous musician to contribute a couple of licks to a song on your new album. It’s another thing entirely to immerse yourself in the talent surrounding you and yet still make it your project, not theirs. Rebecca Frazier managed to walk that line and as a result Boarding Windows in Paradise is an absolutely stellar bluegrass album.
About the author: I've actually driven from Tehatchapee to Tonopah. And I've seen Dallas from a DC-9 at night.