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Growing up singing in his daddy's Pentecostal church in Texas, Danny Frazier received two things: the preacher's passion and a love of music. "You learn to pick a guitar or bow a fiddle before you learn to ride a bicycle," (from the CD liner notes). The Danny Frazier Band's self-titled CD is a collection of down-home country and blues that can only come from a Texan. How he ended up in Cincinnati is another story.

"Hard World To Love In" and "Love Don't Get No Better Than This" draw the listener into the country-blues world of Mr. Frazier's slide guitar. "Breakin' My Baby's Heart" is the flip side of every one-night-stand rock-n-roll tune ever written. One can almost see the devil on one of the singer's shoulders and the angel on the other as he sings, "You ain't worth breaking my baby's heart."

"High Cost of Low Living" arouses the preacher within the cowboy - "There's a high cost of low livin'/Life goes to hell when a man goes to sinnin'." On "Back To The Child", Mr. Frazier reminisces about the innocence of childhood as he laments its loss.

A seasoned veteran of the Texas and Nashville music scenes, Mr. Frazier has a deep sense of his musical roots and a bit of an axe to grind with the industry. He pays his homage to both on "Hank To Thank," and touches on is political/historical axes-to-grind on "American Wind."

The rest of the album continues with the band's infectious blend of country, gospel and blues. High points are the melancholic "The Bottom" and "Change My World." An album of seasoned honesty and musical strength, Mr. Frazier showcases his talents and skills as a songwriter, musician and bandleader. Even non-country fans can't help but be drawn in by the Danny Frazier Band.

Veteran tri-state country rocker Danny Frazier is releasing a new self-titled CD this week, his first release since he had a major label deal nearly a decade ago.

The Danny Frazier Band holds a CD release party at 9 p.m. Saturday at Jack Quinn's, Covington, with opening acts Hyde Park Outrage and Kelly Thomas & the Pickups ($5).

It was nearly a decade ago that the Frazier River Band was signed to Decca Nashville when record companies were riding the young country craze signing anyone they thought had a shot at being the next Garth Brooks or Billy Ray Cyrus. But, Frazier notes, his 1996 CD proved a little too late to ride that wave and suffered from the age-old music business lament of lack of airplay.

"We didn't get enough radio play and the country scene was a little on the downhill slide," said Frazier. "By the time I got my album out, it was all about Shania Twain and Leann Rimes. At that point everyone was looking for females."

Frazier is hoping his brief flirt with major label success will pay off a decade later as he shops his self-released CD.

"Absolutely, the record deal was positive. I learned a lot of good and bad," he said.

"Even to this day when I go to Nashville, there are so many people in town I know. I'll pitch this (CD) there. There are a lot of doors open to me because of that experience."

Frazier has rarely been a straight-ahead country singer, although he does have that rich, twangy voice. His new CD keeps it diverse with a number of tunes he co-wrote with songwriter Randy Branham.

"It's a little bit of everything. It's American roots -a little bit of blues, a little bit of rock ''n' roll and, of course, some old country flavor."

Thematically, Frazier jokes about his songs: "It's a collection of tunes about a lot of things I've been through in the last 10 years. A lesson on how to screw life up."

A hidden track finds Frazier teaming up with vocalist/fiddle player Ed Cunningham (Comet Bluegrass Allstars) on "Amazing Grace." Frazier's four-piece band includes veteran guitarist Chris Goins, who also slings the mandolin and dobro on the CD.

Frazier can be found performing up to six nights a week around town, a regular at La Normandie on Monday and Tuesday nights and at Poppy's in Price Hill on Wednesdays.

The Danny Frazier Band releases its new self-titled album Saturday at Jack Quinn's in Covington. G. Burton and Hyde Park Outrage and Kelly Thomas & the Fabulous Pick-Ups open the 9 p.m. show.

Frazier's name should be familiar to nightclub revelers and anyone who's paid close attention to the local scene for the past decade. The Texas native wound up in Cincinnati after being spit out by the Nashville hit machine in the mid-'90s. His band, Frazier River, released a major label debut in 1996, which left him disillusioned with the industry and with "cookie-cutter scars on his backside" (as it says in the new album's liner notes).

Listening to Frazier and his band (Brian Baverman, Chris Goins, Vernay Numsen Reindollar III) on the new album, it appears that Frazier simply had too much soul to make it in the plastic world of Country Pop. The acoustic-based album has a Country/Blues feel steeped in tradition, not trends. The band crafts sturdy, emotive scaffolding around the songs, with a little outside help from local musicians like Ed Cunningham and Jimmy D.

But it's Frazier's voice and writing that are the biggest draw, pulling at the listener's ear with a twangy gruffness, while the songs emit a timelessness that suggests a rich knowledge and understanding of Roots music's history. Highlights include the loving ode to the forbearers, "Hank to Thank," which praises pioneers like Merle Haggard and Hank Williams for their life-changing influence; the maudlin weeper "Hell To Pay"; and the ethereal, graceful "Hard World to Love In."

The Danny Frazier Band is a charmingly diverse album with an honesty and intimacy that makes it fit comfortably in a record collection between Steve Earle, Lyle Lovett and Townes Van Zandt. You can just toss out the Big & Rich CDs to make room. (thedannyfrazierband.com)