Événement

Rear Window Listening Room presents Michael Fracasso

Everything I have listened to that involves Michael Fracasso has been a delight to my ear. We look forward to hearing him entertain us. From an article by Dave Marsh of the Austin Chronicle >>> Fracasso has spent 15 years in Austin, and he's worked with some of its icons. Charlie Sexton has been a band member and produced several Fracasso albums. Patty Griffin, who's all over Pocket, regularly sings duets with Fracasso. Alongside Alejandro Escovedo and a classroom of local third-graders, he wrote the "The Big 1-0." He's an irregular part of the Woody Guthrie road show Ribbon of Highway, Endless Skyway, with Jimmy LaFave and Eliza Gilkyson, among others. After all that, Michael Fracasso remains Austin's best kept musical secret.

No one can quite explain why he's a secret. Fracasso can do everything a fine musician needs to do. He writes strongly melodic songs with lyrics that offer narrative, characterization, and aphorisms. He plays mean guitar. He can carry a solo show fine, and he's a first-rate bandleader. He's best heard with a group, although that's not a universal opinion.

Most of all, Michael Fracasso has an extraordinary voice, a bright, high tenor that can drive a song or float through it, well suited to material indebted to Sixties beat music or to country blues, as well as the folk material he occasionally includes in his sets. (He does a great "John Hardy," and a stunning "1913 Massacre.") His singing routinely elicits comparisons to Roy Orbison and Buddy Holly, though Fracasso himself talks about the day, back when he lived in New York, that he heard Gene Pitney sing "Only Love Can Break a Heart."

We look forward to seeing you at the Rear Window Listening Room!!