Freedy Johnston Returns! - A Top Story This Week
10/22/2009
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Freedy Johnston Returns! was a top story for this week. Here it is again: (conqueroo) Rain on the City is Freedy Johnston's first album of new originals in eight years. Recorded in Nashville with producer Richard McLaurin, it's one of the best song collections of Freedy's career, featuring a diverse array of rockers, heartbreaking twang, even hints of blue-eyed soul and bossa nova. The album will be released on Bar None on January 12, 2009.
Producer McLaurin (Justin Townes Earle, Allison Moorer, Slaid Cleaves, Matthew Ryan) has framed Freedy's voice with sympathetic arrangements, like the title track "Rain on the City," whose slashing strings and keyboard washes sound like so much precipitation in an Edward Hopper cityscape. There is radio-friendly fare, such as the epic "Don't Fall in Love With a Lonely Girl." and the Buddy Holly-style rave-up "It's Gonna Come Back to You." There are also fine vocal performances accompanying the acoustic majesty of "Venus" and the country-rocker "Rio Grande," where a full-throated Freedy confidently roars over some overdriven guitar pickin'.
Where has Freedy Johnston been wandering in the years prior to making this album? Some folks lost track of him after his 1994 hit "Bad Reputation" and his last Elektra album, 2001's Right Between the Promises. He has moved around, living in NYC, Austin, Kansas, Madison and Nashville. "It takes a while to re-adjust one's priorities and get back on track after working with the big budget that the majors give you," muses our hero. "I went through issues with the IRS, had a relationship go south and a touring vehicle grind to a halt but through it all I never gave up writing and gigging whenever possible." - more on this story
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