Rebecca Frazier is a flatpicking guitarist, singer, and songwriter from Richmond, Virginia. She co-founded the Colorado band Hit and Run in 2001, and the band won the RockyGrass, Telluride, and SPBGMA band contests between 2002 and 2005. In September 2006 she became the first woman on the cover of Flatpicking Guitar Magazine. Her 2024 album Boarding Windows in Paradise reached number four on the Billboard bluegrass chart.
Why Frazier matters
Frazier toured full time as a bluegrass lead guitarist when almost no other woman did. She proved that a Tony Rice style flatpicker could front a band, write the songs, and sing lead. Younger players like Courtney Hartman name her as an early model. For a jammer, her breaks are a clean study in how to solo on a vocal song, not only on a fiddle tune.
Life and career
Frazier was born in Richmond, Virginia, and grew up near the Chesapeake Bay. She sang old songs at a summer camp in the Blue Ridge Mountains as a child. Her father’s record collection introduced her to the Grateful Dead, which led her to Jerry Garcia’s work with David Grisman and then to Tony Rice. She earned a music degree from the University of Michigan in 1998 and studied guitar at Berklee College of Music.
She began playing professionally in Telluride, Colorado, in the late 1990s. In late 2001 she co-founded Hit and Run in Boulder. The band won the RockyGrass band contest in 2002, the Telluride Bluegrass Festival band contest in 2003, and the SPBGMA International Band Championship in 2005. It released Beauty Fades in 2004 and Without Maps or Charts in 2005. In September 2006 Flatpicking Guitar Magazine put her on its cover, the first woman to appear there.
Hit and Run moved to Nashville in 2007. Frazier played on the Daughters of Bluegrass records, and the band has performed as Rebecca Frazier and Hit and Run since 2013. That year she released When We Fall on Compass Records. It reached number three on the Roots Music Report bluegrass chart in 2014. SPBGMA nominated her for Guitar Performer of the Year in 2018 and 2019. In September 2024 Compass released Boarding Windows in Paradise, produced by Bill Wolf, with Béla Fleck, Sam Bush, Stuart Duncan, Barry Bales, Ron Block, Josh Swift, and Trey Hensley. It debuted at number four on the Billboard bluegrass chart.
Playing style
Frazier plays in the Tony Rice tradition: strong downstrokes, clean single-note lines, and breaks built from the vocal melody. She uses Blue Chip picks and has taught pick grip and pick thickness in her online videos. Her solos stay close to the song. She adds a run or a bluesy bend at the phrase ends rather than filling every bar.
She also plays clawhammer banjo and fiddle. On her own records she arranges string parts and lets the guitar sit inside the band instead of on top of it.
Influences and legacy
Frazier names Tony Rice, Jerry Garcia, and Roy Orbison as influences. She has shared stages with Jimmy Martin, Rhonda Vincent, Jerry Douglas, Sam Bush, Del McCoury, David Grisman, and Ricky Skaggs. She has taught workshops across the country since 2005, worked on staff at the Nashville Music Academy from 2008 to 2021, and taught at the Ashokan Center in New York. Courtney Hartman cites her as an early influence.
Signature tunes and songs
Make Hay While the Moon Shines Borderline Black Mountain Rag Your Love Is Like a Flower.
Essential recordings
Without Maps or Charts, with Hit and Run (2005) When We Fall (Compass, 2013) Boarding Windows in Paradise (Compass, 2024)
Awards and honors
RockyGrass band contest, first place, with Hit and Run (2002) Telluride Bluegrass Festival band contest, first place, with Hit and Run (2003) SPBGMA International Band Championship, first place, with Hit and Run (2005) First woman on the cover of Flatpicking Guitar Magazine (September 2006) Paste magazine, Seven Women Smashing the Bluegrass Glass Ceiling (2017) SPBGMA Guitar Performer of the Year nomination (2018, 2019)
Watch and listen
Frazier plays Doc Watson’s Black Mountain Rag solo in one of her Guitar Hangout videos. Watch how she keeps the downstrokes steady through the open-string section.
The official video for Make Hay While the Moon Shines from Boarding Windows in Paradise, with Béla Fleck, Sam Bush, and Stuart Duncan.
What to learn from Frazier
Learn Black Mountain Rag from her solo video. It teaches the Doc Watson open-string run and how to hold time when the pattern changes. The technique to steal is her vocal-song break. Take any song you sing in a jam, play the melody on guitar with the words in your head, then add one run at the end of each line. That is how she builds a break, and it always fits the song.
Sources
Biography and projects, Rebecca Frazier Press kit, Rebecca Frazier Rebecca Frazier, Wikipedia Hit and Run (band), Wikipedia Rebecca Frazier, Compass Records Flatpicking Woman: Rebecca Frazier, The Bluegrass Standard Daughters of Bluegrass share Bluegrass Bouquet, Bluegrass Today
Related players
See the guitar players hub and the guitar guide for more flatpickers. Frazier built her style on Tony Rice. Courtney Hartman and Molly Tuttle followed her as women leading on lead guitar. Trey Hensley plays on her 2024 record.