DeWyze has six solo writing credits on the album and was a co-writer on all of the other songs, collaborating with Drew Pearson, Julian Emery, Justin Irvin, Shelly Fairchild, Rick Seibold, Matthew Wilder and Toby Gad.

DeWyze, who had released two independent albums before winning the ninth season of American Idol,[2][a] made his major-label debut with Live It Up in 2010.

[7] Although DeWyze felt that he and RCA were not thinking the same thing regarding his musical style, he still had high hopes about recording a second album with them and trying to take it in a different direction,[5] but in September 2011, he was dismissed by the label.

[9][10] Many people were surprised to hear him release music in this style and drew comparisons to Mumford & Sons, but DeWyze responded, "anyone can go back and listen to what I was doing when I was sixteen or seventeen years old, those are the kind of records that I was making then.

"[9] Vanguard gave him a great amount of creative freedom and while DeWyze affirmed that he will always stand by Live It Up, calling it "a part of [his] musical journey," he has stated that Frames feels like his real debut.

[24] DeWyze specifically set out to write Frames so that it would "flow as one," harkening back to the kind of albums that he had listened to as a kid with his dad.

[25] On November 3 of that year, DeWyze performed "Who Would've Known" on ABC 7 Chicago, in promotion of the Gateway for Cancer Research's annual Cures Gala charity event.

[26] About a year later, on November 26, 2013, a video was posted to CBS Chicago's website, in which DeWyze performed "Don't Be Afraid" and dedicated the song to those that had been affected by recent tornadoes in Illinois and Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.

[40] DeWyze performed "Silver Lining" on the American Idol season twelve Top 4 results episode, airing April 25, 2013.

[54][55] "Don't Be Afraid" was also featured in the Salt Lake City audition episode of American Idol's thirteenth season, which aired on January 29, 2014,[56][57] and "The Ride" was licensed by NASCAR in September 2013.

[9][37] Other notable acts that DeWyze has held shows with include: Five for Fighting; Marie Miller;[75] The Fray;[76] Casey Abrams;[77] The Devon Allman Band;[78] Seth Glier;[79][80] Val Bauer;[81] Andy Suzuki & The Method;[82][83] and Goh Nakamura.

[84][85] On April 18, 2013, DeWyze served as the host and one of the judges for Cyclone Idol, an annual singing competition held by Iowa State University.

His set at the concert was praised by L. Pierce Carson of the Napa Valley Register, who wrote that DeWyze's music "revealed a young man who wears his heart on his sleeve.

[93] On September 10, DeWyze performed on a Southwest Airlines airplane - flying from Dallas to Albuquerque, New Mexico - as a part of a promotional campaign called "Live at 35".

This was for Live in the Vineyard, a three-day music festival in Napa Valley, California, which DeWyze would be participating in that November, and for which Southwest Airlines was a sponsor.

[103] It's refreshing when an artist you may or may not have let slip from your memory, in the wake of the millions of other things on the screen, speaks up and reminds us he's in fact a human, and he plans to stick around a while.

Luke Bryan of the Chicago Sun-Times extolled the album, suggesting that those who had previously been detractors of DeWyze would have to take notice as "gorgeous lyrics tell one soulful story after another.

"[107] Jeff Dodge of BuddyTV concurred that the album was likely to win over new fans and wrote, "It doesn't have the safe pop-y sounds of his debut; he's now with a record label that supports his musical efforts and he's able to showcase who he is as an artist.

[111] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic gave the album three stars out of five, feeling that DeWyze had drawn inspiration from Mumford & Sons and The Lumineers to reinvent himself on many of the tracks.

[14] In a review for Broken Records Magazine, Cindy Athanaseas called the album "a brilliant piece of work" by "an artist whose music needs to be heard."

"[112] Laura B. Whitmore of Guitar World included Frames on her list of the top ten acoustic albums of 2013, writing, "DeWyze’s 2013 release solidifies his unquestionable musicianship and superior songwriting chops."

[117] Christen Limon, one of the website's writers, described the choice by writing, "As if [DeWyze's] voice wasn’t already soothing, his guitar skills are that much more comforting and then you combine the two and never want his songs to end.