Melissa Ruggieri
The Beat

Thursday, November 4, 1999

For a guy whose music could send you rushing for a Prozac prescription, Freedy Johnston is surprisingly upbeat. Maybe that's because his darkly introspective songs usually aren't written about his own life. They just sound like they are.

A native of Kinsley, Kan., Johnston, 38, got caught by the usual small-town inconveniences. He had to buy his first guitar by mail order at 16, and country was the only music available on the radio. Not exactly "cutting edge" stuff, as Johnston puts it.

Now he lives in Manhattan, tours with an acoustic setup ("mostly for financial reasons") and still worships Frank Sinatra.

His fifth full-length album, "Blue Days Black Nights," is receiving the same type of critical lauds as 1994's landmark "This Perfect World," an album that drew songwriting comparisons to Elvis Costello and Bob Dylan. Commercial and financial success is yet to come and, considering most record companies will only keep top-selling artists on its roster, Johnston is fully aware that he might soon be recording independently.

Does he care?

"I've got to be able to do my own thing, that's all my crowd wants to hear. They don't want me to try and please them or someone else," Johnston said from his Manhattan apartment last week.

Johnston also candidly spoke on other topics, including why he doesn't like his 1997 album, "Never Home"; why Creed and Matchbox 20 are a joke to him; and how next time, he just might crank up the volume and rock out of his acoustic shell.

Q. Based on many of your songs, you're starting to garner a reputation as this depressive guy. How would you describe yourself?

A. I would agree that I write melancholy, sad songs. But I'm not down all the time, but in my work, those are the emotions I tend toward. I don't write from my true life experiences, which is a common misconception. A lot of songwriters couldn't imagine doing it any other way.

This record has songs with breakup and abandonment themes that have nothing to do with recent experiences in my life.

Q. So where do your inspirations come from?

A. From the melody and tone of the music. Plus, I'm always reacting to the previous record. I just realized that I do that. I had a lot of trouble with "Never Home." I always wondered how people could make lousy records, but I didn't have a good time with it and it didn't really turn out how I wanted it, and this record is a reaction to that.

A. People who grew up in small, Midwestern towns like me, Sheryl Crow and Matthew Sweet, we didn't hear much new stuff, but we heard a lot of types of music. I'd ride around with my friends and someone would like Elvis Costello and someone Bob Seger, whereas if I grew up in New York, all I would have heard was the New York Dolls.

The only radio in the Midwest is contemporary country, and I really try not to be negative about any type of music, but it's clear how sadly calcified [country] has become. You can't tell these male country singers apart. The same thing happened with grunge, all these guys with fake Eddie Vedder baritones. Bands like Creed and Matchbox 20, they're a parody.

Q. It's interesting that you're such a big Sinatra fan, considering he's noted more as a singer than a songwriter, and you're almost the opposite.

A. I just love him as a singer. There was a reason he was one of the post-war superstars. He was a rock star. He could really sing and he had style. He was so on the edge, being really kind of sexual. To women at the time, he sounded like an animal.

A. I'm not sure. I'm writing songs and I'll probably make another record in the summer, but who knows if I'll make it myself or what. Even in the worst-case scenario, I could support myself doing this. Next time I go into the studio, I look forward to not having to listen to anybody but the producer. I say that not in a bitter way, but in a real way. There's such two-faced, lying, sanctimonious weasels out there, and I didn't get into this business to talk to people like that.

Write to Melissa Ruggieri at the Richmond Times-Dispatch, 333 E. Franklin St., Richmond, VA 23219, call (804) 649-6120, send comments to WebTD at www.gateway-va.com or e-mail mruggieri@timesdispatch.com

Back to links page.

Back to main page.