Biography
Paula Frazer served as the central force behind the country art band Tarnation, showcasing her gifts as a singer and songwriter who circled back to roots music following an accomplished stretch in 1980s post-punk. Raised from birth in the small Georgia hamlet of Sautee Nacoochee nestled in the Smoky Mountains foothills, she absorbed musical influences equally from both parents: her father, a Presbyterian minister, placed her in the church choir, while her mother provided piano lessons and exposed her to a range spanning George Gershwin and Billie Holiday through the popular sounds of the 1960s and 1970s. When the family relocated to Arkansas as she turned 14, Frazer started gigging with area jazz ensembles and began crafting and demoing her folk-leaning compositions.
Upon finishing high school she moved to San Francisco, where in the early 1980s she appeared with outfits such as Frightwig and Trial, forging lasting ties with Desmond Shea and John Borruso. She also performed in Cloiter, whose EP appeared on NufSed; that label’s proprietor, Brandon Kearney, later joined the Tarnation lineup Frazer assembled in 1992 alongside ex-S.F. Seals musicians Lincoln Allen and Michelle Cernuto plus steel guitarist Matt Sullivan. NufSed put out the group’s debut, I’ll Give You Something to Cry About, in 1993 as a 1,000-copy limited pressing. The record reached Red House Painters’ Mark Kozelek, who connected Frazer with 4AD. The imprint issued Tarnation’s follow-up, Gentle Creatures, in 1995 under production by His Name Is Alive’s Warren Defever. Later that year the remaining three members left to focus on individual projects, prompting Frazer to recruit an initial road lineup that, following one bass change, became the configuration behind the 1997 release Mirador. After extensive touring that included European shows alongside her idol Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, she once more found herself bandless.
In 1998 she abandoned the Tarnation moniker to issue solo work under her own name on Birdman Records, yielding Indoor Universe in 2001, the 2003 retrospective A Place Where I Know, and Leave the Sad Things Behind in 2005. She resurrected the Tarnation name for 2007’s Now It’s Time, much of which she captured at home on an eight-track recorder. After launching the psych-rock trio Skystone in 2010 with guitarist Brock Galland and drummer Royce Seader, Frazer returned to Tarnation for the 2014 EP In Some Time on MRG. The 2017 album What Is and Was featured singer-songwriter Jacob Aranda, pedal steel guitarist David Cuetter, and longtime associates Patrick Main and Justin Frahm handling keyboards.
Upon finishing high school she moved to San Francisco, where in the early 1980s she appeared with outfits such as Frightwig and Trial, forging lasting ties with Desmond Shea and John Borruso. She also performed in Cloiter, whose EP appeared on NufSed; that label’s proprietor, Brandon Kearney, later joined the Tarnation lineup Frazer assembled in 1992 alongside ex-S.F. Seals musicians Lincoln Allen and Michelle Cernuto plus steel guitarist Matt Sullivan. NufSed put out the group’s debut, I’ll Give You Something to Cry About, in 1993 as a 1,000-copy limited pressing. The record reached Red House Painters’ Mark Kozelek, who connected Frazer with 4AD. The imprint issued Tarnation’s follow-up, Gentle Creatures, in 1995 under production by His Name Is Alive’s Warren Defever. Later that year the remaining three members left to focus on individual projects, prompting Frazer to recruit an initial road lineup that, following one bass change, became the configuration behind the 1997 release Mirador. After extensive touring that included European shows alongside her idol Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, she once more found herself bandless.
In 1998 she abandoned the Tarnation moniker to issue solo work under her own name on Birdman Records, yielding Indoor Universe in 2001, the 2003 retrospective A Place Where I Know, and Leave the Sad Things Behind in 2005. She resurrected the Tarnation name for 2007’s Now It’s Time, much of which she captured at home on an eight-track recorder. After launching the psych-rock trio Skystone in 2010 with guitarist Brock Galland and drummer Royce Seader, Frazer returned to Tarnation for the 2014 EP In Some Time on MRG. The 2017 album What Is and Was featured singer-songwriter Jacob Aranda, pedal steel guitarist David Cuetter, and longtime associates Patrick Main and Justin Frahm handling keyboards.
Albums
