Just before Christmas we spoke with Canadian singer, songwriter, Frazey Ford and delved into her life as a musician to find out what music means to her, how it defines her, and where she gets her influence from.
Frazey Ford describes her music as something between Bob Dylan folk and Otis Redding soul. Growing up in a free-spirited home with lots of music and creativity, it’s no surprise that Frazey is as inventive and passionate as she is. “My mom sang all the time. She was always playing the accordion and piano and singing and my dad wrote a lot of poetry and did a lot of visual art. The record player or the stereo was always on with all kinds of music. I think if you have that backdrop around you, you’re liable to absorb some of it” says Frazey.
Growing up she would fall in love with different artists based on how they looked and how they sounded. She remembers being fascinated with Linda Ronstadt and Juice Newton at the young age of 7. From there she really got into the Supremes, which led her to mo-town music around the age of 11.
For Frazey, it’s been a long process of listening to music her whole life and being interested in making music. When asked about the inspiration behind her music she said, “It’s been a long exploration. In your youth as an artist you’re absorbing people all the time, so I absorbed a lot of folk music and soul music and I listened to Otis Redding, Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan. There’s a long period of figuring out what inspires an artist and understanding what that artist wants to be.”
Growing up in a creative household, music has always been a part of her life. “My relationship to music is probably close to being the most important relationship I have in my life, other than my son” says Frazey. “It has always come first, and I think that’s what part of being an artist is – you have a connection to a creative form that is as much a part of you as your best friend or your relationship to spirituality – it’s such a huge part of who you are – and it’s probably one of the most important things in my life in terms of how I understand myself and how I understand the world around me and how I make sense of difficult things, how I choose to keep moving forward, how I process and it’s my most primal spiritual relationship.”
Over the years her love and passion for music has landed her in many different bands. One of her earliest cover bands was an Al Green cover band. “I’ve done a lot of different cover bands and went down a lot of different paths musically,” says Frazey, “but soul was always kind of my first love.”
From cover bands, Frazey was a founding member of The Be Good Tanyas, a folk music group in the late 90s. From there she released her solo debut in 2010, Obadiah.  Filmmaker Robert Gordon was working on a documentary on Memphis soul when he heard Ford’s Obadiah song, “If You Gonna Go,” and invited her to record at Royal Studios in Memphis. That journey sparked a collaboration that eventually became the album Indian Ocean.  “That whole experience was almost a very strange dream, and it affected me so profoundly” says Frazey. “When you get to the point where you’re working with people you consider to be your heroes it’s a huge change between admiring something for so long to becoming it in a way.”
Frazey will perform on our OnStage set-up February 16. With all of our OnStage shows you have the additional option to attend a delicious three course meal in our CentreStage Lounge, hosted by our sponsor, Borealis Grille & Bar before each performance when you purchase tickets by calling box office at 519 578 1570. Seating is limited, make your reservation* when you purchase tickets.
*Three-course dinner is $29.95. This price does not include, tax, gratuities or drinks. Please inform us of any allergies and sensitivities when making your reservation.