WHOP FRAZIER "BATHTUB BLUES" BARN YARD BLUES

By Mike Joyce (The Washington Post)

January 9, 1998

There are plenty of exponents of boudoir, jailhouse and barrelhouse blues around, but with the release of his second CD, local singer and bassist Whop Frazier stakes his claim to the "Bathtub Blues." He's even pictured on the CD cover relaxing in the tub, fully clothed and beaming a broad smile at the camera. And why not? This is blues tempered with a lot of humor, after all, and Frazier isn't about to let his miseries get in the way of a good time.

In fact, for all the troubles he's seen, Frazier's music has as much to do with partying as pathos. Sure, he takes his share of abuse here from scolding women and conniving men, but he always manages to bounce back again, his voice radiating plenty of spirit and soul on the album's strongest, and sometimes saddest, tracks.

Besides, life isn't an endless litany of woes for Frazier. Among other things, he sings of love, the extra large kind, on "Fat Roberta"; salutes bluesman Jimmy Reed with a cool reprise of "Hush Hush"; and reworks "Shake a Hand" until it becomes a lover's oath of undying devotion.

Of course, Frazier's fat bass lines help enliven the upbeat tunes, along with a few funky horn charts, the guitar work of Bobby Thompson and Greg Dunn, and the piano-organ contributions made by Vince Evans and John Osmond. Small wonder Frazier's got that big grin on his face.