With the instant access to music that’s such a basic part of our lives today, it’s almost impossible to visualize how radically different things were not that long ago. Take, for example, the tale of singer-songwriter Freedy Johnston (born 1961), who grew up in the tiny town of Kinsley, Kansas, and bought his first guitar at age 16 via a mail-order catalog. When he was 17, Johnston had to have a friend drive him to the nearest record store, which was 35 miles away, so he could buy an Elvis Costello record that he’d read about. But the two actions set him on his path, and by the early 1990s he was living in New York and had begun making acclaimed albums full of his character-driven songs, such as his 1992 breakthrough Can You Fly and 1993 major-label debut, This Perfect World, the latter home to the Billboard Hot 100 hit “Bad Reputation.” Via email, the tunesmith answered the questions below ahead of his appearance this month at the Avalon Lounge.
What was it like growing up in rural Kansas, and how do you think it shaped your songwriting?
Since I was a kid I’ve always kind of written little nonsense songs in my head. It’s probably better described as a condition than a talent. It took light years before I actually finished a good song. I was way into early ’70s FM radio when I lived in Phoenix in my early teens. The same station would play Sonny and Cher, Deep Purple, Sly and the Family Stone, Steve Miller, Anne Murray, etc. Back in Kansas, there was no FM radio. Just my friend Debbie’s collection of 8-track tapes (Kansas, ZZ Top, Charlie Daniels, Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin) and my mom’s 8-tracks (Merle Haggard, Loretta Lynn George Jones, Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton).
Your songs are very literate. Did you read a lot as a kid?
I only went to college for one semester, but my friends attended classes, so I got a thin education by proxy. By my roommates telling me, “Read this.”
Your first big move was to attend college in Lawrence, Kansas, where you started following the punk/new wave scene there. What was it like for you to go from Kinsley, which must not have had much of a music scene at all back then, to being in an artistic community in which you were meeting like-minded peers and seeing them play in bands and make records?
In the ’80s in Lawrence I was still just a fan. I didn’t make much music until I moved away to New York years later. The Embarrassment was my favorite band. I learned to play guitar by trying to copy [group member] Bill Goffrier’s guitar parts. My roommate, Frank Loose, was the drummer for [likewise prominent local trio] Get Smart! We had a huge apartment that bands would crash at. The Bad Brains stayed one night, and I had a hell of a time finding them weed, even though I worked at a hippie restaurant. Those were great times.
Kinsley is literally halfway between San Francisco and New York, and you moved to the latter city in 1985. What made you choose New York?
It was just one of those goals in life. Yes, there has always been a big sign at the edge of Kinsley, with two arrows pointing to New York and San Francisco: 1561 miles each way. I used to work at the Dyne-Quik, which was right next to the sign. I remember stepping out back for cigarette and looking up at the sign. It’s like a hokey movie, but it happened.
You’re known as a prolific songwriter, but you’ve taken more time between your last few albums; it’s been three years since the release of 2022’s Back on the Road to You, your most recent one. Do you have plans in place to release another album soon, or are you just going with the flow of your creative process?
It was too many years between records last time. I will get a new album out in the fall of 2025, which will make for an acceptable (I hope) three-year gap.
In the end, what is that you most hope people will get from listening to your songs?
I don’t know. I hope I can write a song that helps someone overcome a problem or a heartache.
This article appears in January 2025.
