What a discovery for fans of New Country. At the German American Volksfest in Grafenwoehr Nicole Frechette hit the stage. Unfortunately already in the afternoon, which made me, and many other visitors of the Volksfest miss a part of her concert. But what a discovery! What a voice and, most of all, what a stage presence! At the end oft he concert there was the opportunity to obtain her CD. The EP lets us guess what talent this from the South of Conneticut could  do when she hits the scene and roughens up Nashville’s country scene. Nicole Frechette is a bundle of energy, which can easily be seen in her stage presence and in the songs on her CD, which she interprets with a very pleasant powerful voice. She tells us that she has been found by Country Music. As for the country in this girl- she blames her grandma who wanted to show her real music by playing Patsy Cline for her. After meandering and testing different possibilities she discovered that Country Music was the perfect place for her.

You find truthfulness and personality in the songs on the CD. The songs are chosen to fit Nicole perfectly and show what makes Country Music so special: Beautiful and interesting stories, which are worth to be told. Nicole Frechette is a narrator who tells us stories that come from our own lives. No matter which songwriter has written the songs Nicole adopts them as her own. Each of the eight songs is tailored to fit her personality and she sings them convincingly-  every song can be a hit.

The Album starts with the strong song ”Yeah Right”, written by Phil Vassar. Here a young woman gets even with her guy, by telling him that she could live with or without him, culminating in the sentence: ‑ You’re The Last Thing, I Ever Needed. The second title ‑ “Life had other plans”, has been arranged beautifully. Most musicians who play on the album are well known in Country: You can find names like Rob Hajacos on the fiddle, Tony Harrell on the piano and David Northrup on the drums. These guys are names in Nashville: Tony Harrell has already worked with Johnny Paycheck, Mel McDaniel or Suzy Boggus. David Northrup already hit the drums for Joe Diffie or Tanya Tucker. The song written by Georgina Middleman and Angelo Petraglia, who have worked, among others, for Martina Mcbride, centers around one of the main truths in life: Sometimes life has got other plans. A beautiful story is told by the song “A Good Place To Turn Around”- everybody has done some things in life which turned out to be wrong and you wish you had a place to find your inner peace, for turning back. The woman in the songs finds this place in a little church by a parking lot where she finally says: “That seems a good place to turn around.”

  Listening to the song you can follow her on that way. By using her voice Nicole Frechette can take the listener on this journey. In the song ‑ “I Wish I Knew”  Nicole takes the listener by the hand and shows him where stupid mistakes , jealousy and misunderstandings can lead. Only after the partner left you start thinking ”I Wish I Knew”. Wonderful ballads are sprinkled among midtempo songs on the album. Starting with a wonderful piano intro the song ‑ “Cross Against The Moon” shows once again Nicole’s abilities as a narrator. Written by Kris Bergsnes and Brian Dean Maher the songs tells us about the feelings a seventeen year old girl, sitting in her room, thinking about life and herself.  “Watcha’ Think About That” is a great pop song rooted firmly into traditional Country by using the fiddle and the banjo. There are so many question waiting to be asked in a relationship and this is the song about them. ”That Kind Of Love” is another easy-going County Pop song, making you feel good, with a hint of the famous Taylor Swift style to it. The last song of the CD ‑ “Don¥’t Make Me Go Tonight” , is a ballad again, showing what a great singer Nicole Frechette is.

Nicole Frechette has the voice and stage presence of a really great Country singer, comparable to Martina McBride and Lorrie Morgan. The album has wonderful melodies, arranged perfectly. Unfortunately her music can’t be obtained in Germany, as you can neither buy the CD nor can it be downloaded on the known websites like amazon. The CD has to ordered over Nicole’s website (see link below) or be obtained at a concert. We can only hope that Nicole returns to Germany one day for some concerts in the Country Clubs. This would be appreciated not only by Country fans, but also by line dancers.

In concerts, Nicole performs in addition to her own songs well known titles from other singers, e.g. Miranda Lambert. Those who want to find out more about her and want to convince themselves of Nicole’s musical qualities should watch her YouTube Videos.

Nicole Frechette is a fresh, modern Country singer, representing New Country who has got a great voice. If you like singers like Carrie Underwood or Taylor Swift you will love Nicole Frechette.  I will certainly stay tuned on her career and so will Countryhome.de

www.myspace.com/nicolefrechette

www.nicolefrechette.com

Written by: Andreas Hilgart

Translation (and all the mistakes caused by it) Astrid Hollenbach (astrid.hollenbach@gmx.de)