Rebecca Frazier - Boarding Windows In Paradise (2024) [Hi-Res]

Grounded in her roots as a native Virginian, bluegrass trailblazer Rebecca Frazier found herself reawakening to a whole new journey of inspiration and invention. For the flatpicking luminary, who achieved notoriety in the music world as the first woman ever to appear on the cover of Flatpicking Guitar Magazine, that creative rebirth turned into her most captivating work yet: BOARDING WINDOWS IN PARADISE, releasing Sept. 13 on Compass Records. Like generations of her ancestors who have lived along Virginia’s coast, she, too, has weathered life’s hurricanes and battering winds — and witnessed its luminous beauty — and she wanted to capture that juxtaposition on this record. Frazier’s bond with GRAMMY-winning producer Bill Wolf, known for working with Tony Rice and Grateful Dead, was the catalyst. Frazier collaborated with bluegrass icons Béla Fleck, Sam Bush, Stuart Duncan, Josh Swift, Barry Bales, Rob Block, and Byron House, as well as heavy hitters Trey Hensley, Love Canon, and Shelby Means to create an album of sheer originality while giving a reverent nod to those who’ve inspired her.

Standout tracks include Frazier’s self-penned “High Country Road Trip,” the album opener invoking majestic Rocky Mountain scenery and featuring a climactic performance from Béla Fleck; “Make Hay While the Moon Shines,” co-written by Frazier, another celebration of experiencing the here and now, conveying moonlit anticipation and high-spirited, light-hearted mirth; and Frazier’s eclectic acoustic cover of Madonna’s ‘80s classic, “Borderline,” with the band Love Canon in Virginia and fiddler Stuart Duncan. Frazier’s unique flatpicking appended to each track creates the driving instrumentation for which she has been known since she was first introduced to the national scene in the mid-aught’s as a member of Colorado’s award-winning outfit, Hit & Run.