Freedy Johnston Interview: SXSW 2010

Rolling Stone named Freedy Johnston their 1994 songwriter of the year following the release of his major label debut 'This Perfect World.' Oddly enough, it was that very same publication, along with a radio station that came in only on clear nights, that fed Freedy's small-town childhood dreams of one day being a musician. Eventually Johnston bought a guitar through mail order, moved to a bigger college town, caught up on popular music, and started writing his own songs. Now he's a 20-year veteran, having released a dozen albums of critically acclaimed power-pop. We caught up with Johnston just before SXSW at his New York City home, the moment after he dropped his iPod headphones into his coffee, and still found him amazingly friendly.

Describe your sound in your own words.

If someone from Slovakia is coming to SXSW and they're reading this, I'd say I sound like Tom Petty from Kansas. I mean, come on, I would say he is the guy who guys like me all want to be. Or I'd say, "I sound like Neil Young, Tom Petty and Elvis Costello." Because I learned from these guys -- there's no shame In learning from them. Eventually, you do your own thing. Paul Westerberg, later, was also a big influence on me. Those four guys.

So it says in your biography that you grew up in a town without a record store. But you still had radio, right?

It seems like it would be that way, but, no, I'm from western Kansas. There was no radio at all. Well, when the sun went down and stopped interfering, you could pick up this station from Great Bend, Kansas, where there was a university. This was the late '70s, so we'd get to hear whatever was on rock radio at that time -- Steely Dan, stuff like that. I had a subscription to Creem and Rolling Stone. I would order LPs from the Columbia Record Club. That was the main way you would get records.

So did it take you longer to find the music that you really liked?

The coolest record I could get... well, we read about Elvis Costello. I read about the Sex Pistols, too, but I was scared of them. I got my friend to drive me to a town 45 minutes away to a head shop to buy 'My Aim Is True.' Everybody else liked it, then right away, 'This Year's Model' came out, and I just had gotten the first one! It was like, the very next week, all my friends all had 'Model,' which I really didn't like as much. But c'mon, that's like his greatest record, that's one of the greatest records ever made! Everybody was into Cheap Trick, those three records, and the Stones 'Some Girls.' That was the first Stones record I heard and the only one I had for years. I didn't know them very well til later.

Who are your musical influences?

Elvis Costello, absolutely, early on. It was like, "That's the way to write songs." I'm really glad he was, too, because his record, that first record, it's an R&B record. It would be called "pub rock" in England, but really smart, a new kind of music, in a way.

Did you ever meet him?

I did a gig in town here at a little place called Fez, it's closed now. I looked out at this club, and there was Elvis. It was really strange -- I felt like a little baby, a child. Because I knew I could never approach his level of understanding of music, or artistry. I just did my show. He actually stayed for the whole damn show. I'll never forget that. I'm sure if he read that, he'd say "Doesn't mean that much, man, I was just there." Or "Yeah, that guy had a couple of good ideas."

I'm sure there'd be someone who'd be just as excited to see you at their show.

Well, see, and that's the weird thing. There's been a couple of times where somebody said, "Wow, I can't believe I'm meeting you." And I just don't know what that is. Don't get me wrong, I like my songs. I have a different thing now, after doing it for 20 years. But I earned being able to write a good song by writing a lot of bad songs. That's why I love reading interviews with Elvis. He said, "Do you know how many bad songs I wrote? Many, many more than the good ones!"

What's your biggest vice?

You can't ask a musician that! Nah, it's nothing too bad. I don't smoke cigarettes anymore. I did that for years and years. I am sometimes an amateur Rastafarian, but I try to keep that under control.

What's In your festival survival kit?

Definitely bring your sunglasses, and foam earplugs, because people don't always know how loud they are, and sound men don't always know what they're doing. I've been to SXSW several times now. I think it's great. They take care of you there. It's a must -- to not go is ridiculous.

Who was your first celebrity crush?

In the '90s, I had a crush on Jennifer Aniston. The roadies put her picture on my amp. I left it there for a long time. Never met her.

What's your musical guilty pleasure?

I've got a lot of them, stuff that's not really hip at all, but the person has done at least one great song. There's only one Barry White song I can listen to, but it's one of the greatest songs ever, 'Never Gonna Give You Up.' Every other one of his tracks is just not listenable, but that one just blows my mind, especially the horn parts, and all the changes. There's another song, I'm trying to learn, it was an '80s hit by El DeBarge called 'All This Love.' It's just a great, great song. I might cover that one, but It would be like covering Debbie Gibson. They'd think it was tongue-in-cheek, but it's not gonna be, because I love the song. That's why you should do a cover version, so you can bring it to a new audience. A good friend of mine has suggested that I do 'That Smell' by Lynyrd Skynyrd acoustically. They said, "This song will speak to the world in a different way if you do it."

Beatles or Stones?

That's a rough one, but it has to be the Beatles, because I'm such a Paul-head. A good friend of mine said, "Freedy, you have to listen to these Stones lyrics. They're some of the best lyrics ever." And he's right -- whoever's writing them, Mick or whoever, they're amazing lyrics. Songs like 'Sympathy for the Devil,' they're really complicated songs. So now I think that lyrically the Stones are far and away the more sophisticated band, but the most sophisticated pop musician that I knew of and liked was Paul McCartney.

Matthew Wilkening is a Seed.com contributor. Learn how you can contribute here.