By: Fernando Revis
Composer, Grammy Award Winner

Frank Carlier defines himself as a hillbilly and makes no bones about it, but he is more than that. He is a viper's nest of ironies and dichotomies.
To define his style edgy country would pay him a great disservice. It is much more. His role models are those that tow similar lines: Tom Waits, Randy Newman, and John Prine.
Carlier's voice is truly American. Brought up in the heart of West Virginia his voice can be like the raspy rumble of a Harley or the mournful chant of a hill country troubadour.
Staying vital and faithful to his own hard-times gospel his newest CD "Americana 101" is his best work so far. He sketches an elaborate picture of those people whose portraits are never painted, whose biographies are never written, who never make the newspaper except in the police blotter or the obituaries.
"Americana 101" is bound to hit everyone between both eyes, like a sawed-off shotgun filled with irony pellets.