Texas Monthly
In a city renowned for its original music, Michael Fracasso has distinguished himself as an artist of uncommon brilliance
by Robert Fraser

In a city renowned for its original music, Michael Fracasso has distinguished himself as an artist of uncommon brilliance. His effortless tenor, at once pliable and searing, is guided by a wry yet deeply affecting sensibility. Among singer-songwriters both within and beyond the Austin city limits, Fracasso moved to the front rank in 1993 with the DejaDisc release of love and trust, which was hailed as "the most satisfying debut you're likely to hear this year" (CMJ New Music Report), noted for "bequiling melodies and the easygoing, seductive way he sings them" (Washington Post), as well as for lyrics that bespoke "a perceptive, literate writer" (The Gavin Report). With his much anticipated follow-up, When I Lived In The Wild, Michael Fracasso is certain to achieve even greater recognition.

The 14-song CD (released on the Bohemia Beat Records label) represents Fracasso's astonishing range of moods and musical influences. From good-natured romantic overtures ("Nervous Mind") to acid commentary ("How Very Inconvenient") to devastating snapshots of the human heart ("Big Sister"), When I Lived In The Wild crisscrosses the American musical landscape of folk, pop, R&B and dead-ahead rock & roll to arrive at a territory that is distinctly Michael Fracasso's. Like the great vocalists to whom he has frequently been compared (Roy Orbison, Gene Pitney, Buddy Holly), Fracasso reveals his capacity for sounding simultaneously wry and forlorn, ephemeral and urgent.

Equally significant, however, is the music itself. Recorded throughout July of 1994 at Austin's Hit Shack, the sure-handed production of Dave McNair showcases Fracasso's enormously talented band: bassist George Reiff (Formerly with Joe King Carrasco, among others); drummer Rafael Gayol (Bodeans); and guitarist Mike Hardwick, Fracasso's longtime sidekick and co-producer whose resume includes stints with Gene Clark and Jerry Jeff Walker. Five songs also feature the soulful contributions of former Rolling Stones and Faces keyboardist Ian McLagan (currently touring with Rod Stewart), while fellow Austinite Iain Matthews (Fairport Convention) and Tom Freund of The Silos appear as back-up vocalists.

The songs on When I Lived In The Wild span 15 years of songwriting and reflect, at least in spirit, Michael Fracasso's personal American odyssey. A native of the mill town of Mingo Junction, Ohio (where The Deer Hunter was filmed), Fracasso was educated in Catholic schools and reared in a hardscrabble neighborhood of working-class Polish, Irish, and Italian immigrants. Like his father and grandfather, Michael worked in the steel mills throughout his late teens and early twenties in Steubenville, a few miles up the Ohio River from Mingo Junction. But he found it hard to romanticize what he remembers as "the dirt and the fire and the molten steel and the soot."

An uncle had bought him a guitar in grade school, thereby introducing the boy to his destiny. It was not until a high school French teacher forced Michael to fill up the extra time in a school assembly with an impromptu singing performance that the boy confronted a bona fide audience. He received his first standing ovation that afternoon.

After graduating from Ohio State and working the Washington's Cascade Mountains as a surveryor, Fracasso took a deep breath and in 1978 relocated to New York City - where, as he says, "I knew literally no one." For the next 12 years, Michael Fracasso honed his chops in the city's burgeoning folk scene. He became a regular at the Monday-night Cornelia Street Songwriter Exchange (and had several songs chosen for a recorded compilation from the club) , song swapping with the likes of The Roches, Steve Forbert, Suzanne Vega and Cliff Eberhardt.

Though already a gifted songwriter (he penned "Big Sister" in 1979), Fracasso credits New York's creative hothouse for sharpening his style and his songwriting self-discipline. While in the city, he formed his first of several bands and recorded a succession of demo tapes. But by 1990, Fracasso's impatience with the progress of his career was augmented by the realization that the New York folk scene was rapidly drying up. For the second time, Michael Fracasso packed up and drove to a music town where he did not know a soul: Austin, Texas.

Upon his arrival in Austin, Fracasso noticed an advertisement for an "historic hotel recently renovated." The inn turned out to be a flophouse several miles outside the city. Still, says Fracasso, "It was so liberating to look out the window and see only one stoplight and a great big sky" that he took up residence there. Thus rooted, Michael Fracasso set out to conquer the Austin music scene. Taking advantage of the city's multitude of open-mike opportunities, he quickly became a regular at the Chicago House, Cactus Cafe, Saxon Pub and the Austin Outhouse.

A year after calling Austin home, Fracasso was voted Best New Artist in the Music City Texas poll of local music professionals. The following year, in 1992, the release of "love and trust" made Fracasso much in demand throughout Texas and beyond. Since then, he has toured both coasts, as well as Germany and Norway, and won unanimous critical praise while performing in 1994's much heralded "Austin Songwriters On The Road" tour of the States with fellow Austin musicians Jimmy Lafave, David Halley and Jo Carol Pierce. Michael was ultimately given a feature highlight, alongside Joe Ely, Hal Ketchum, and Willie, Waylon & Lyle on The Americana Network's 2-part/4-hour special on The Austin Music Scene.

A week-after-week fixture on The Gavin Report's very-earliest Americana Top 10, and a standby in thousands of CD changers around the world, When I Lived In The Wild culminates Michael Fracasso's continuing ascent; with songs that celebrate, haunt and endure.