Dan Frechette

October 21st 2009

Exposed in public
Prolific songwriter Dan Frechette releases his first solo live recording

by James Culleton (Volunteer)


Local singer-songwriter Dan Frechette emerges from the woods with a smile on his face and, no doubt, a song in his heart.
Dan Frechette, one of Winnipeg’s foremost songwriters, will be releasing a CD of live recordings at the Times Change(d) on Saturday, Oct. 24.

The recording, Dan Frechette – Performer, features solo performances on harmonica and guitar by the Winnipeg troubadour.

“Most of the people over the years have been whispering to me that they would prefer to have a solo recording, since I usually play solo when I’m live, as opposed to in a band. I’m happy to offer something that is just me and still has a full sound.”
Frechette’s decision to release these recordings, which were recorded in 2006 and 2007, was a practical one.

“In the summer I broke my wrist out at the lake and was in a cast for two months. Since I wasn’t able to play, I decided to compile some of my archives. It took the whole summer to do and I came up with 2,600 recordings. Everything under the sun.”

[My wrist] was in a cast for two months. Since I wasn’t able to play I decided to compile some of my archives.

– Dan Frechette, musician

- See Dan Frechette on Saturday, Oct. 24 at the Times Change(d) (234 Main St.)
- He’ll also perform at that same venue Saturday, Nov. 14 and at the Millenium Library on Saturday, Nov. 21

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Dan Frechette
Known as a prolific songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Frechette has played upright bass, dobro and mandolin on previous recordings.

In this latest release, he focuses on guitar and harmonica, which arguably portrays him as a folk performer and shows his interest in the traditional folk genre.

“My big heroes have always been Woody Guthrie and John Lennon – people whose lyrics said things that were brutally honest and made people stand and look at themselves or rethink their own beliefs or motives.”

“Lately I’m listening to Cannon’s Jug Stompers and a vast variety of old blues from the ‘20s,” Frechette responded, when asked about what inspires him musically. “I still love the great melody writers from the early pop era, Dixieland, jazz and the upbeat pop of the mid-‘60s.”

Frechette starting playing guitar in 1989 and has been playing music all his life. He has toured throughout Europe, as well as all over the U.S. and Canada.

Frechette currently resides in St. Boniface, and is working to book next year’s shows. In the meantime, his calendar is peppered with a healthy amount of upcoming shows in Winnipeg, just to keep him busy.

- Uniter

February 16th, 2006
Dan Frechette - (Blind Snake Records)

Lucky Day
Steve Baylin

For Dan Frechette, practice makes perfect, or near perfect anyways. A diligent musician (he claims to have more than 1,300 songs under his belt), the Winnipeg-based singer/songwriter emerges (not surprisingly) as an artist fully formed on this, his brilliant debut. Produced with a gentle touch by veteran Bill Bourne (who plays mentor in much the same way Ian Tyson did for Corb Lund), the sparkling 14-track set finds the solitary 29-year-old Frechette - whose throaty, honey-tinged voice often gives way to a faint Neil Young-like warble - in a melancholy, occasionally bitter state of mind. He sings of whisky, absent lovers and "days long past," angels, drunkards and "revolutionary hippies whose bottle became his bride," all with an air of hard-earned authenticity. A first rate debut from the future of Canadian folk.


- Ottawa XPress

"Manitoba singer/songwriter Dan Frechette, blessed with an enormous talent and a facility for adapting elemental folk forms - bluegrass, Celtic airs, country, ragtime, country blues - to his own purpose, the likes of which I haven't heard since Dylan's first recordings, has drawn around him some of the Canadian folk community's most respected sages and musicians - most notably manager/executive producer and longtime festival artistic director Mitch Podolak, producer/guitarist Bill Bourne, bassist Gilles Fournier, fiddler Tania Elizabeth - for this impressive debut, an all-acoustic folk album that contains 14 of the prodigious young composer's richest, most tuneful pieces, arch folk narratives that convey a powerful sense of place. Frechette's varied and nuanced vocal performance and accomplished guitar work are really all these songs need, and Bourne has been wise to add only minimal flashes of colour. The most impressive Canadian folk debut by a solo artist since David Francey, Lucky Day is already a classic, an album that will surely find an exalted place in the canon." Greg Quill, Toronto Star April 28, 2005
- Toronto Star

There’s something that sets a great songwriter apart from a mediocre one. It can’t be taught, but it makes ordinary words and simple truths take on new meaning as they’re mated to music. Whatever that something is, Pinawa-based singer/songwriter Dan Frechette has it. A roots- and bluegrass-influenced musician, Frechette is as talented as he is prolific and easily immerses both himself and his audience in his stories in song. For Lucky Day, Dan wisely enlisted many noteworthy folkies including Tania Elizabeth, Jordan McConnell and Leonard Podolak (of The Duhks), as well as bassist Gilles Fournier. The Bill Bourne-produced result is a great-sounding disc that can’t be truly appreciated without a careful listen to the poetic lyrics. — MW
- Uptown Magazine (Winnipeg)

"The most impressive Canadian folk debut by a solo artist since David Francey, Lucky Day is already a classic, an album that will surely find an exalted place in the canon"
- Greg Quill, Toronto Star - Toronto Star

Mike Regenstreif, Sing Out Magazine.
"...Winnipeg's next rising star to watch is Dan Frechette, one of the most talented singer-songwriters I've heard in a long time. Over the course of these fourteen songs, Frechette shows himself to be a fine songwriter who is facile enough to move comfortably among a number of genres and styles"
- Sing Out Magazine

"...the Winnipeg-based singer/songwriter emerges...as an artist fully formed on this, his brilliant debut...A first rate debut from the future of Canadian folk"

- Steve Baylin, Ottawa XPress.

- Ottawa XPress

Dan Frechette - Performer - (4 Stars)
.by Rambling Dan Frechette on Saturday, January 16, 2010 at 9:52am."Since moving from Pinawa to the so-called big city here in WPG,widely travelled troubadour Dan Frechette has gone from strength to musical strength. His 4th solo album is a stripped-down live effort that brims with the kind of self effacingly dazzling songs that fans have come to love. He's the kind of song-writer that can practically charm the birds out of the trees with his sencerity and earnest language and has obviously looked at life from more than one angle, as songs like Lost River Blues and The Saddest Smile Is Goodbye prove. Frechette has an intelligent, light hearted side too and while there are smiles in some of the songs they obviously camouflage some deeper, earnest world view.This is a balanced, interesting live document that bears up under repeated listenings." -Jeff Monk
- Winnipeg Free Press