Bands to Watch: Ron Freeman

Hear Audio of Ron Freeman

He admires the Williams, Hank and Lucinda. Not surprisingly, he worships Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, and Emmylou Harris. But he's also a fan of such idiosyncratic bands as Wilco, Magnetic Fields, Vigilantes of Love, and Nationals.

Meet Ron Freeman, a 24-year-old Erie songwriter with a heart of Neil Young gold but also a distinctly modern viewpoint. Take "Our Song," a lament from "Crushing Hearts," his new fivesong EP.

"Our love is like a country song and all the drunks want to sing along," Freeman sings, accompanied by forlorn harmonica and acoustic guitar. "Our love is like a country song that just goes on and on."

Luckily, his uncluttered songs don't do that. He's an economical songwriter whose unforced, unsentimental songs should appeal to fans of Bright Eyes and Ryan Adams as much as, say, Gram Parsons and Johnny Cash.
Freeman will play a pair of CDrelease parties on Saturday — first, from 5-7 p.m. at Denny's in Fairview, and later from 8-11 p.m. at Moonsense Cafe.

"It's very folky, very songwriteroriented," Freeman says of his debut EP. "I'm just trying to be as catchy as possible. I guess I have a lot of styles I want to get to. The first four songs are real acoustic-based, and the fifth one ("Tell Me the Truth") is a lot more polished, synth-pop kind of thing, with electric and acoustic guitars and synthdrum programming."

For as long as he can remember, Freeman wanted to play music. Thing is, he didn't want to play other people's songs. He wanted to write his own.

"I pretty much learned how to play guitar so I could write songs," he said. "I just felt like they were bursting out of me. I was never interested in playing covers or anything. It's all writing."

That said, he's followed assorted songwriters through the years, from legends to newcomers who catch his ear.
"I've kind of been a student of a lot of different songwriters," he said. "For a while, I was on a Hank Williams kick, where I'd try to do really fun, standard country songs that sounded like they could be 50 years old. More lately, I'm listening to Elvis Costello and Bob Dylan and stuff in that vain, where it's not always clear. Sometimes, a line will strike, and the rest of the lyrics are there to support a line."

He hopes to support himself entirely through music some day. He's already building a fan base in Erie.

"I don't have any real interest in doing anything else," Freeman said. "I do have a job and do other things, but I'm hoping to make a living at it."

Freeman talked about his past bands, new CD, and other topics with Showcase.

H O M E:
Erie.

T H E I N S P I R AT I O N:
After playing in a couple bands that broke up, Ron Freeman decided he might as well play solo. "It's just easier to not have a bunch of guys," said Freeman. "And it's usually easy to find a friend to help for an evening or to record. But to actually have a band?" That's harder to keep up, he said.

Before going the solo route, Freeman was in Brannock Device and then Girls Without Boyfriends.

S T Y L E:
Folk, alternative country.

W R I T I N G  I N S P I R AT I O N S:
Bob Dylan, Hank Williams, Elvis Costello, U2, Wilco.

F I R S T  A L B U M  Y O U  E V E N  B O U G H T:
"It probably would have been a Neil Diamond cassette. I loved Neil Diamond when I was 11," Freeman said. "I still like a lot of the classics. He's such a cheesehog, but he's underrated. Some of those melodies are great, and some of those lyrics are so groan-inducing. But when you're 11, something groan-inducing can be brilliant."

F I R S T  C O N C E RT:
"Neil Diamond in Buffalo with my dad. It was fun, a lot of fun. He was huge that year. He toured the same year as U2's Zoo TV tour, which was gigantic. Neil Diamond had the second biggest tour that year, and nobody noticed."

S O N G  T H AT  Y O U  W I S H E D  Y O U  H A D  W R I T T E N:
"There's the National, a great, great band with a song called 'Mr. November' that rules. It's so sweet."

FAV O R I T E  C L O T H E S:
"I usually am in a pink-colored shirt and cowboy hat — to a lot of people's chagrin," Freeman said. "I've been in bands where they hated the fact that I dress like that. Before the pink shirt, I was in a purple shirt, and I had friends steal my shirts. The thing is, I had back-ups in my closet. I have four pink shirts, and back then, I had three purple shirts. So they thought they were getting away with something, but I was like Charlie Brown. I had a closet with a bunch of the exact stuff."

D E S E RT- I S L A N D  D I S C S:
"It'd be nice to get stranded with an iPod," Freeman said before picking out a few choices: "Fortune" by Mendoza Line, "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" by Wilco, "Achtung Baby" by U2, "Audible Sigh" by Vigilantes of Love, the "Unearthed" box set by Johnny Cash, and Emmylou Harris' "Wrecking Ball."

C D S:
"Crushing Hearts," a five-song EP, is available at his shows, starting this weekend.

W E B S I T E:
www.ronfreeman.net

U P C O M I N G  G I G S:
Friday from 7-9 p.m. at Summer House Coffee Roasters in Franklin; Saturday from 5-7 p.m. at Denny's in Fairview and 8-11 p.m. with Matt Texter and Seth Ellsworth at Moonsense Cafe. — Dave Richards

Let's hear it!

Take a part! Post your review of this Backstage Pass or recommend other musical acts at www.rockerie.com/reviews