Biography
There are few vocalists from America who combine an authentic country drawl with Deep South origins and openly cite Australian Nick Cave as their principal inspiration. Paula Frazer stands out in precisely this way, folding punk, blues, cabaret, and gospel into her own arresting sound.
She was born and raised in the small town of Sautee Nacoochee, Georgia, nestled in the Smoky Mountain foothills, where both parents shaped her early listening. Her father, a Presbyterian minister, oversaw the church choir in which she sang, while her mother provided piano lessons and exposed her to George Gershwin, Billie Holiday, and the pop and rock of the 1960s and 1970s. When the family relocated to Arkansas as she turned fourteen, Frazer began singing with local jazz ensembles and cutting home demos of her folk-leaning material.
She arrived in San Francisco in 1981. Throughout the first half of the decade she appeared with Frightwig and Trial—the latter introducing her to longtime associates Desmond Shea and John Borruso—and with Cloiter, whose EP came out on Brandon Kearney’s NufSed label. Kearney had played in the first incarnation of Tarnation, the group Frazer assembled with ex-S.F. Seals members Lincoln Allen and Michelle Cernuto plus steel guitarist Matt Sullivan. NufSed pressed the band’s 1993 debut, I’ll Give You Something to Cry About, in a run of one thousand copies. Mark Kozelek of Red House Painters heard it and passed the record to 4AD, which issued Tarnation’s follow-up, Gentle Creatures, produced by His Name Is Alive’s Warren Defever, in 1995. Earlier that year Allen, Cernuto, and Sullivan left, so Frazer recruited a new touring unit that, after one further bass change, recorded the 1997 album Mirador. European dates supporting Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds followed, after which the band dissolved once more.
Already known for outside work, notably her contribution to Cornershop’s When I Was Born for the 7th Time, Frazer abandoned the Tarnation moniker in 1998. She assembled a fresh Bay Area backing group featuring vocalist-keyboardist Patrick Main, Sister Double Happiness alumnus Jeff Palmer on bass, and Oranger’s Jim Lindsay on drums. With additional drumming from Matt Torrey and assorted guests, the project yielded the 2001 release Indoor Universe—her first album under her own name, yet continuing the same artistic thread. A 2003 anthology, A Place Where I Know, collected four-track versions of songs from both Tarnation and solo eras; two years later she issued Leave the Sad Things Behind. In 2007 she reinstated the Tarnation name for Now It’s Time, recorded largely at home on an eight-track machine. After further touring that included another European run with Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, she formed the psych-rock trio Skystone in 2010 alongside guitarist Brock Galland and drummer Royce Seader. Later she returned to Tarnation, releasing the 2014 EP In Some Time on MRG. For the 2017 album What Is and Was the lineup comprised singer-songwriter Jacob Aranda, pedal-steel player David Cuetter, and longtime colleagues Main and Justin Frahm on keyboards.
She was born and raised in the small town of Sautee Nacoochee, Georgia, nestled in the Smoky Mountain foothills, where both parents shaped her early listening. Her father, a Presbyterian minister, oversaw the church choir in which she sang, while her mother provided piano lessons and exposed her to George Gershwin, Billie Holiday, and the pop and rock of the 1960s and 1970s. When the family relocated to Arkansas as she turned fourteen, Frazer began singing with local jazz ensembles and cutting home demos of her folk-leaning material.
She arrived in San Francisco in 1981. Throughout the first half of the decade she appeared with Frightwig and Trial—the latter introducing her to longtime associates Desmond Shea and John Borruso—and with Cloiter, whose EP came out on Brandon Kearney’s NufSed label. Kearney had played in the first incarnation of Tarnation, the group Frazer assembled with ex-S.F. Seals members Lincoln Allen and Michelle Cernuto plus steel guitarist Matt Sullivan. NufSed pressed the band’s 1993 debut, I’ll Give You Something to Cry About, in a run of one thousand copies. Mark Kozelek of Red House Painters heard it and passed the record to 4AD, which issued Tarnation’s follow-up, Gentle Creatures, produced by His Name Is Alive’s Warren Defever, in 1995. Earlier that year Allen, Cernuto, and Sullivan left, so Frazer recruited a new touring unit that, after one further bass change, recorded the 1997 album Mirador. European dates supporting Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds followed, after which the band dissolved once more.
Already known for outside work, notably her contribution to Cornershop’s When I Was Born for the 7th Time, Frazer abandoned the Tarnation moniker in 1998. She assembled a fresh Bay Area backing group featuring vocalist-keyboardist Patrick Main, Sister Double Happiness alumnus Jeff Palmer on bass, and Oranger’s Jim Lindsay on drums. With additional drumming from Matt Torrey and assorted guests, the project yielded the 2001 release Indoor Universe—her first album under her own name, yet continuing the same artistic thread. A 2003 anthology, A Place Where I Know, collected four-track versions of songs from both Tarnation and solo eras; two years later she issued Leave the Sad Things Behind. In 2007 she reinstated the Tarnation name for Now It’s Time, recorded largely at home on an eight-track machine. After further touring that included another European run with Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, she formed the psych-rock trio Skystone in 2010 alongside guitarist Brock Galland and drummer Royce Seader. Later she returned to Tarnation, releasing the 2014 EP In Some Time on MRG. For the 2017 album What Is and Was the lineup comprised singer-songwriter Jacob Aranda, pedal-steel player David Cuetter, and longtime colleagues Main and Justin Frahm on keyboards.
Albums
