I must admit I didn’t quite know what I was in for when asked to listen to Indie artist Donna Frost’s latest CD. The ASCAPlus award winning songwriter didn’t disappoint.
Like a chameleon, her smooth vocals transition from track to track. She reminds one of an early nineties Mary Chapin-Carpenter, mixed in with some Heidi Newfield, and a little soul a la Janis Ian from Seventeen. But she never falls into the trap of letting the music overtake the musician. The instruments blend seamlessly with her words and her vocals. An added bonus is that each track is distinctive and different, no two sound alike. I had to refer to the case and look for liner notes to see what genre I was listening to, as the artist slips seamlessly from country to soul and back. (I never found a liner note that answered my question, by the way)
Frost takes on honky tonkin’ good times in tracks like “When Love Goes Bad”, and “Elvis in a Tollbooth”. The title cut, “Girls Like Us”, tackles the familiar theme of good girls liking bad boys, and while up tempo, remains uniquely Frost thanks to an understated musical arrangement and beautiful vocals.
Her voice shines brightly in the wistful “Anywhere Tonight”, but my must listen pick would have to be “Runaway Train”. This is one artist that I believe will be able to stay true to her indie roots no matter how mainstream her work becomes.
For more about Donna or to buy this CD, visit http://www.donnafrost.com/
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Donna Frost
05/23/2008
Concert Review by Chris A
It’s a bit after 8 pm and I’m running behind. I’m on the way to Taffy’s to check out an artist making her debut performance in the Eaton music landmark. Her name is Donna Frost and she’s an acoustic player with a pretty impressive resume. As I walk in the door there’s Donna already behind the mic belting out a bluesy one-four-five country ditty called “Ain’t It A Shame.” A native of Nashville, Donna Frost is the real deal. She’s paid her dues, working as a busker playing for tips on the sidewalk in front of Nashville’s “Elvis” museum. In 1999 she divorced and made the decision to try to make her living as a musician. As she mentioned during her Taffy’s performance, without the husband she had fewer expenses. So she did it. She quit her job and pursued her passion by taking a leap of faith and jumping into the very competitive Nashville music scene. It paid off as a few years later she would find herself routinely performing on stage at the Grand Ole Opry working with her friend Skeeter Davis. With two albums under her belt Donna’s established a loyal following in Nashville but she’s not just a Tennessee girl. She’s gigged the music circuit in most of the major American cities. She’s also crossed the big pond and demonstrated her chops to audiences in London. I mentioned an impressive resume? Drop on by her website and you’ll discover this is one talented and hard working performer. Her new CD “Feels Like Home” is making an impact in countries around the world with several top 25 tunes and one of her songs pegging out at number one in Australia. In addition to music she’s an actor who’s currently playing the role of Janis Joplin. Diverse in her music and very professional in her presentation, she’s clearly fond of telling stories relying on her voice and her guitar talent to convey assorted messages of love, loss, life and hope. She’s a cool performer and absolutely worth checking out the next time she’s in town or when you’re in Nashtown. Visit her website at www.donnafrost.com