FORD FOCUS

Four albums with that Frazey feeling,

THE BE GOOD TANYAS CHINATOWN

(Nettwerk, 2003)

The second and best album by Ford’s folk harmony group. A crisp, wise take on bluegrass and tradition betrays strong affinities with Gillian Welch. But amid some fine covers (Townes Van Zandt, House Of The Rising Sun), Ford’s own songwriting begins to flourish: beneath the banjo, Ship Out On The Sea is a covert intimation of funk.

FRAZEY FORD OBADIAH

(Nettwerk, 2010)

With the aid of Be Good Tanyas bandmate Trish Klein on guitar, Ford negotiates a graceful entente between country and soul on her solo debut. Bird Of Paradise is a high-stepping highlight, like Dolly Parton riding a jazzy breakbeat; Dylan’s One More Cup Of Coffee, reconstituted as slow-burning blues, showcases Ford’s knack of deploying emotional heft with uncanny lightness of touch.

FRAZEY FORD INDIAN OCEAN

(Nettwerk, 2014)

Like Cat Power’s The Greatest in 2006, Ford makes good on her soul aspirations by recording with the Hi Records Band in Memphis. Her delicate vocal feints invoke Al Green without impersonating him, while the band’s empathy and discretion bring the funk to a killer set of breakup songs: check the righteous contempt for a “drive-by shooting son of a bitch” on key single, Done.

FRAZEY FORD U KIN BE THE SUN

(Arts & Crafts, 2020) Recorded back in Toronto with her regular live band, Ford’s third solo album expands on the progress made in Memphis. The drum and bass grooves are punchy and unadorned (think D’Angelo’s band, The Vanguard), her measured anger focused on new targets: “We’re out here to evolve/I guess you missed the call,” she sings on The Kids Are Having None Of It.