Freedy Johnston's 1992 album "Can You Fly" opens with the lines, "Well, I sold the dirt to feed the band," as he recounts the true story of how he sold the family farm he'd inherited to finance the recording of that very album.
The risk paid off. "Can You Fly" and its successor, 1994's "This Perfect World," established him as one of the finest songwriters of his generation and, with the latter record, he moved from an independent label to a major one. The accolades haven't ceased in that time, including those for his most recent LP, 2022's "Back on the Road To You."
But it's not music that's brought him back to Kinsley this summer. Instead, it's one of his other passions: painting. Having won a grant through the Kansas Department of Commerce and the Office of Rural Prosperity, Johnston set about creating a work to celebrate his hometown.
Because he'd spent more time in the past figuring out well-crafted verses and choruses than he had with public art projects, he teamed with Lawrence painter/muralist Dave Loewenstein to bring the project to completion. Johnson will be in Kinsley for much of August working on the project.
He recently spoke with KMUW about his return home, his personal artistic goals and his ties to KMUW.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
How does it feel to be home?
It's really good. It's been pretty emotional. When I was younger, I wanted to get the heck out of town. That's why I went to New York City. I have nothing but affection for this little town. It's trying its best. I run into a lot of friends from high school. Folks come up while we're painting. I'll hear somebody behind me, and they'll say, "Fred?" I'll put my paintbrush down and probably have a cheerful conversation with people I haven't seen in 20 years. It happens every day.
You're working on this with Dave Loewenstein, who has a history with these kinds of projects. Did you know him before this?
I had not met Dave until we got to Kinsley. When I took this grant from the state to do the mural, I was going to do it alone. It's almost comical now. I'm a songwriter. Thinking that I know how to do a mural, that's pretty darn funny. With time I realized that I needed help. Kayla Savage, [director of Community Engagement at the Kansas Department of Commerce], said, "Hey, there's this guy Dave Loewenstein who you might want to talk to at least for advice." I did, and he said, "Do you mind if I take your general idea and run with it?" I said, "Please, sir, do it." He took my idea of the horizon and the city in the middle -- a real simple, general concept -- and made this beautiful design. We're halfway through executing it. We've been working together for four days now. Every day, I learn another aspect of mural painting and painting in general. He's basically teaching me how to do this, so I can be a better painter.
People know you primarily as a singer-songwriter. When did your involvement with visual art begin?
I've always done art on the side. My one semester at KU was in the art department. I wanted to be a painter. But I only went one semester and just couldn't hang with school, so I got a restaurant job and started writing songs. [Laughs.] Somehow that worked out. I have no idea how it worked out, but it did.
But I always did some kind of art. About 12 years ago, I decided, "OK, I'm going to get back into art." So, honestly, it's taken about 12 years or at least the last five or six to really get back in the swing. That's kind of my goal, before I kick the bucket, one of them, is to have an art show. It'll happen.
I love that this is a project in a rural community because I think that we often see the arts as something urban. Rural communities don't have the same kind of exposure. Is this part of the thinking behind this?
You're exactly right. The reason that I got [the grant for the mural] is that the state has a program to sponsor murals in small towns because they've learned that whatever money is invested is many times paid off in the psychology uplift of the town. It somehow has a real effect. That is only going to help. There's another mural here already. I hope there will be another one after this one. I would like to come back next summer and do another mural. Heck, yes. I want to acknowledge my hometown.
Thanks for your time, Freedy.
One thing I do want to mention, as far as KMUW, is that my [late] friend Jake Euker was a DJ there in the '80s. I didn't have a record deal, but I was making demos, and I would send them to him, and he would play them on your station! I had a song called "This Really Happened" [featured on the 2004 demos collection "The Way I Were"] that got played. People would know the song. And then a song called "Down on the Moon" [heard on the 1990 release "The Trouble Tree."] I got my first radio play on KMUW long before I got a record deal. I just want to note that.
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