Frazier was born in Osceola, Arkansas. He initially performed with his brothers. Befriending Johnny Shines, in 1930 they travelled together to Helena, Arkansas, where they met Robert Johnson. The threesome moved on to Detroit, Michigan, with Frazier bringing his wife, Gussie Mae, and their children. Here they performed hymns on local radio stations. Frazier and Johnson returned to the South, where they performed with the drummer James "Peck" Curtis. In 1935, Frazier was involved in a dispute in Memphis, Tennessee, in which he was wounded and his only brother and another man were shot dead. Frazier returned to Detroit with his wife but then wed Shines's cousin, in an invalid marriage. He played guitar as an accompanist for Big Maceo Merriweather, Sonny Boy Williamson II and Baby Boy Warren. He was recorded in 1938 by the folklorist Alan Lomax for the Library of Congress. His recordings include "Lily Mae" (dedicated to his wife), a revision of Johnson's "Honeymoon Blues", and "Highway 51", a variant of Johnson's "Dust My Broom". His unique style combined slide guitar playing with unusual lyrics and vocal phrasing that is difficult to decipher. He released three singles under his own name in 1949 and 1951 on the Alben and New Song labels, including "Got Nobody to Tell My Troubles To", which he recorded in Toledo, Ohio, in 1951. From 1951 to 1953, Frazier was a recording member of T. J. Fowler's jump blues combo. He then recorded with Warren in 1954. His final sessions in the studio appear to have been in 1956, backing Washboard Willie. Without any tangible success on records or otherwise, Frazier nevertheless performed around Detroit, taking his youngest daughter Carol Frazier along on his engagements until his death.
Frazier died of cancer in September 1972, at the age of 57, in Detroit.
His most notable work is "This Old World's in a Tangle", the first song he recorded; a compilation album of the same title was issued by Laurie Records in 1993, which includes some of his earliest work. Nine of his full-length original recordings are included in the compilation Detroit Blues: Blues from the Motor City 1938–1954, released by JSP Records in 2005. In 2009, the Detroit Blues Society led an appeal to raise monies to mark Frazier's previously unmarked grave with a headstone. By December of that year a granite slab was in place.
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By Jason Ankeny
An associate of Robert Johnson, Calvin Frazier never attained the notoriety of other Johnson protégés like Johnny Shines, Robert Jr. Lockwood or Honeyboy Edwards, but his scant recorded legacy reveals a performer whose take on prewar-era blues is as unique and distinctive as any in the canon. Born February 16, 1915 in Osceola, Arkansas, Frazier began his career performing alongside his brothers, and in the company of Shines, he traveled to Helena, Arkansas in 1930; there they met Johnson, and together the three men slowly journeyed north to Detroit, where they sang hymns on area gospel broadcasts. Upon returning south, Frazier and Johnson also joined with drummer Peck Curtis in a string-band combo. However, in 1935 Frazier was wounded in a Memphis shootout which left another man dead; he fled back to Detroit, marrying Shines' cousin and settling into a life of quiet anonymity. Apart from gigs supporting the likes of Big Maceo Merriweather, Rice Miller and Baby Boy Warren, he resurfaced in 1938 long enough to cut a session for folklorist Alan Lomax; while the spectre of Johnson undeniably haunts renditions of songs including "Lily Mae" (a rewrite of "Honeymoon Blues") and "Highway 51" (lifted from "Dust My Broom"), Frazier's incomprehensible vocals, menacingly surreal lyrics and exquisite slide guitar are the hallmarks of a total original. He did not record again until a 1951 date with T.J. Fowler's jump band, and entered the studio one last time in 1954 with Warren and Miller; Frazier continued performing in the Detroit area to little notice until his death on September 23, 1972.