Jodee Frawlee is easily one of the best guitarists in the northeast, if not the country. Frawlee’s power rock trio Starr Faithfull has been igniting New England stages for the last ten years. And Starr Faithfull, at the time it was formed, was the latest in a series of popular bands that Frawlee has played lead guitar in.
Frawlee’s accomplishments include being named Boston’s Best Guitarist and being tapped by major guitar manufacturers to represent their products at NAMM shows in Nashville and Anaheim. She has also received endorsements from brand name manufactures. Last year, Frawlee was picked among ten guitarists in the country and Canada for Guitar Player magazine’s 2010 Superstar contest.
“You send in your videos and they pick ten people and those ten people they flew out to California, and we played against each other,” Frawlee said. Judges included Gary Hoey and Elliot Easton. “It was amazing. I never thought I was going to get picked. I’ve been reading Guitar Player magazine since I was ten years old. To get picked for it was pretty crazy.”
Her latest CD with Starr Faithfull, Delusions Of Grandeur, was produced by Anthony J. Resta and John Ellis, both of whom have worked with national stars. “We knew how we wanted things to sound,” Frawlee said. “We had certain visions for each song. Some went a little off, in a good way. We’re really happy with the way everything came out.”
One track, “Bleed,” was recorded live in the studio and the take worked to reveal the trio’s raw power. “Usually, the drummer will do his thing and add bass and guitar, but yeah this definitely has this live vibe too,” Frawlee said. Frawlee, in Starr Faithfull, writes all the lyrics and all the melodies and their was material the trio, which includes drummer Aj Vallee and bassist Geoff Kornfeld, came up with together. “There was a collaboration of things that just kind of all came together,” she added. “Maybe Geoff thought of a riff.” Delusions Of Grandeur is available on iTunes and Amazon.com
Frawlee said her songwriting can be inspired by anything she’s feeling. “It could be anything from real life to a watching a movie that moves me,” she said. Frawlee feels Delusions Of Grandeur is the strongest effort out of the three albums Starr Faithfull. Not too long ago Starr Faithfull played the main room at the House of Blues in Boston to a great crowd.
As a songwriter, Frawlee’s work is never finished. Writing is a life long journey for her. “I’m still writing, always writing, but nothing’s recorded yet,” she said.
As a vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter, Frawlee has had many favorites that inspired her. Two of her biggest inspirations as a singer were Pat Benatar and Charlie Farren. “I love his phrasing. He could sing anything and make it sound good,” she said. “The singer in The Motels I always liked.
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As a guitarist, she said she has a ton of favorites but off the top of her head she offered Mike Stern. “He’s more of a fusion player but the things that he comes up with,” Frawlee said, “he takes it outside a little bit. He comes up with these beautiful compositions, but then he could also just burn over these fusion jazz changes.”
Frawlee has a long term fascination with Steve Vai. “Stylistically, you always know it’s him. He could play three notes, and you automatically know it’s him. He definitely has a style of his own.” Brian May of Queen is another personal favorite. “He’s got such great tone and such great melodies, his solos, you can sing along with them and they’re so memorable, so melodic.” Nuno Bettencourt, she said, never gets the credit he deserves for his rhythm work. “I really like Nuno’s playing. His rhythm work is amazing. I think that’s kind of understated from his solo work because his solos are just impeccable, his timing and his feel.”
Frawlee said the world has gotten used to seeing women musicians and she doesn’t hear as many people exclaiming, “Wow, you’re a female musician!” “You still hear it, but it’s not as big of a deal, I don’t think,” she said.
Aside from Starr Faithfull, Frawlee belongs to a Prince tribute band called LoveSexy, and a side project with LoveSexy’s singer.
LoveSexy, with whom Frawlee been with two years, is a personal favorite, as she’s always been a huge fan of Prince. “It’s Prince. What’s there not to like about Prince,” she said. “I do the Wendy stuff and I do the Prince stuff. I’m the only guitar player in the band, so I get to play all the cool stuff. Prince is just such an underrated guitar player. He’s amazing. I think (the public) think more about the songs, and he’s an amazing songwriter as well, and singer. But I don’t think people give him the credit. If you listen to some of his guitar playing, especially live, he’s just a monster. He’s great.”
Frawlee landed the LoveSexy gig through perseverance. She saw an advertisement on Berklee College Of Music’s website, learned 15 songs in two days, and she just had to have the gig. “I love Prince so much that I had to have it,” she said. LoveSexy will appear at Foxwoods on April 3rd. They also play Twin River on May 11. They just played Johnny D’s last Friday.
Frawlee is used to playing with only a drummer and a bass player whereas the Price tribute band has a keyboardist and saxophone player. In fact, she’s never played with a saxophone before. “It’s really fun to play with the sax player and the keyboard player,” she said. “We get to let loose in this band, solo wise. I’ll play some riffs and go back and forth with the sax player. It’s fun to do with a guitar player, but it’s even more fun to do with a sax player. It’s definitely a fun gig.”
Frawlee has had to do more funk than ever in LoveSexy. The phrasing is different. “I do a little bit more jazz solos, jazzy, pseudo-jazz, I guess,” she said. “I don’t think I’m shredding as much as in Starr Faithfull.”
Frawlee works in a side project with LoveSexy’s lead singer Kobie Ali, his own solo band of original music. Ali, too, gets around. He once had to cancel some LoveSexy shows to go on tour with George Lopez. Frawlee, in addition to everything else, recently contributed to studio recordings for Boston’s young blues Chanteuse Sara Thompson, with Hirsh Gardner producing. “She’s got an incredible voice. I just did a song with her,” Frawlee said. Frawlee performed live with Thompson at Smoken’ Joe’s in Brighton.
Of course, Frawlee can take her music career just about anywhere she wants to. With that much talent at the microphone, on guitar, and as a songwriter, a world of possibilities always lies before her.
