Lucky Day
Prolific and Talented Songwriter Plays First Local Show since July 2005
Jen Zoratti



Only a folksinger could write over 1,000 songs and only make one album.

Pinawa-based singer/songwriter Dan Frechette is one such folksinger. His debut album, Lucky Day, was released in February last year, but he has been making music since he was 12 — and Frechette says he has indeed penned over 1,000 tunes.

Nevertheless, it took some good old-fashioned soul-searching for the singer to focus and finally make his first full-length album.

Armed with a guitar, Frechette spent three years in his early 20s busking his way across the United States and Europe. Playing street corners and subway stations, Frechette was very literally playing to make a living. He says his best and most inspired songwriting was done during this ‘busking period’ because he got to showcase his tunes to a fresh audience almost every day.

“When you go out with a new song, you try it and it works — it’s enthralling,” Frechette says after a gig in Minnesota. “But if not, you learn what doesn’t work very, very quickly.”

From dusty, blues-inflected towns in the southern States to Eurotrash-littered cities in Germany, Frechette was exposed to new music, new people and, perhaps most importantly, new stories. Although he’s seen a large part of the world, his favourite story comes from right here in the ’Peg.

“I was playing one time in Winnipeg, and the fellow came up to me, quite drunk. He started talking my ear off, telling me about his life. It was really beautiful and really sad,” Frechette says, almost wistfully. “I didn’t end up making any money that day, but I wrote The Drunkard about his story.

“That was really precious to me. It always amazes me how you can get beauty out of things you don’t expect, and this was definitely one of those times.”

The Drunkard is just one example of the beauty on Lucky Day. The album features many melancholy narratives made more beautiful by Frechette’s intricate guitar work and Neil Young-esque vocals. Tunes such as Money in the Wind will remind you of that starry night at Folk Fest, while My Bride and I is sprinkled with East Coast Celtic flavour.

Produced by folk guitarist Bill Bourne, Lucky Day is an impressive acoustic album. A few of The Duhks — Tania Elizabeth, Jordan McConnell and Leonard Podolak — also lend their talents to the disc. Accordingly, Frechette says his first album was well worth the wait.

“I could have made this album five years ago, but I wanted to wait,” he says. “The musicians on the record were so good, and Bill kept it simple and real. There was a lot of love in the room when making it. It was worth waiting for.”

While Frechette was waiting, he was writing, and he says it’s usually in Pinawa that he finds the focus he needs to write. The folksinger still calls the small town home, which is surprising because most rural Manitoba musicians end up in Winnipeg, if not Toronto.

“It’s so worth it to live there,” he says. “There’s a lot of solitude there. I’ve written lots of songs there. It’s a good town to just go take a walk in. I just really like it. It’s quiet.”

Growing up in a small town without the distractions of the big city made it easy for Frechette to focus on music. He says he became fascinated with The Beatles at a very early age, and that planted the singing and songwriting seed in the young musician.

“I started noticing that people were surprised that this little kid knew all these Beatles tunes off by heart,” Frechette says, laughing. “I’d speed my records up to 45 rpm so that their voices matched my little-kid voice. People would, like, come and watch. I’ve been singing for a long time.”

The little kid picked up the guitar when he was 12 and started to write songs. Because of his early lyrical genius, he was signed to EMI Music Publishing at the ripe old age of 17. The experience quickly soured for Frechette, who wasn’t expecting to be penning pop tunes.

“They wanted me to be a singer/songwriter till they signed me. Then they wanted me to be a pop act,” Frechette says. “It’s always frustrating to be put in that mould, especially if you’re someone who’d rather listen to an old-tyme string band than a Top 40 song with $40 million behind it.”

It was after the EMI experience that this lone wolf decided to embark on his three-year nomadic journey as a busker. That inspirational trek behind him, Frechette began earnestly touring in support of his debut full-length as winter hit the Prairies, but the seasoned traveller is showing no signs of road weariness.

“I’ve been waiting 10 years for this,” Frechette says. “I feel like I can keep rolling.”

Fans in Manitoba will be pleased to know the songwriter will roll into town on Feb. 25 for a rare local show. In fact, Frechette hasn’t played Winnipeg since last summer’s Folk Fest, and it’s his set from Birds Hill Park that he says still ranks as one of his most memorable.

“It was raining and dark,” Frechette recalls. “It was amazing. I’ve never been on a stage in front of that many people, and when I was done everyone was cheering. I almost cried I was so moved.”

Though he’s excited to play for a hometown audience again, Frechette has found that he can feel at home on almost any stage.

“My favourite experiences are when I play in a town or a festival or wherever and there’s all these music lovers out there. The more I meet, the better I feel about what I do,” he says. “When I look out and I see all those people in those chairs with their straw hats, I think, ‘Right on — I’m home.’”