Greg Freeman Burnover
I’ve written in this space about the evolution of musical hotspots and the effect that bands in the same scene can have on each other, from the updated Appalachian sounds coming out of Kentucky to the countrygaze in and around Asheville, North Carolina. In 2025, the scene in Burlington, Vermont, has burst open big-time, exposing indie country artists to a nationwide audience. Two of the region’s newfound stars – Lily Seabird and Florry’s Francie Medosch (who relocated to Burlington from the slightly larger metropolis of Philadelphia) – have released two of this year’s best records (Trash Mountain and Sounds Like…). The latest Vermonter (via Maryland) to find his moment is singer-songwriter Greg Freeman. His second album is a jangly, jarring triumph, full of twisty narratives and dark humor. The words come fast and furious (and often desolate) on Burnover, but when true emotion peeks through, it’s a shock to the soul.
If I’m defining “indie country,” I’d call it the slightly disheveled city cousin to Americana’s country mouse. And Greg Freeman definitely hits that description – ragged and noisy, but never without a direction in mind. Burnover’s first track, “Point and Shoot,” makes no effort at a slow rollout, slamming right in with slash-and-burn guitars and a disrupted film scene that could’ve been lifted from the notorious Rust shoot – “They cut the scene and saw blood on the cameraman” – but also contains one of the lines that makes this album special – “You looked at me like a pie in the window pane/I looked back like a mule in some bridle reins.” It’s one of several instances of taking big chaos and boiling it down to important moments that are present on Burnover. The twangy “Gallic Shrug” (featuring lovely pedal steel from Ben Rodgers) references a gesture of indifference – “After one last round/You’re lookin’ to the sky for love/And all you get is a Gallic shrug.” Sung in a ragged falsetto, Freeman portrays a sense of desperation, but the song wraps with “But I will love you until the cows come home,” borrowing a worn-down expression of affection to break the overwhelming spell of “eh.”
If you’re looking for more of the Burlington scene, it’s fully present on Burnover. Medosch and Seabird contribute group vocals to “Rome, New York,” an off-kilter, Wurlitzer-driven (via album co-producer Benny Yurco) portrayal of Rust Belt small city decay – “Pass right by the broken dreams of the broken-into cars.” Seabird also contributes vocals and bass to a couple of tracks, including “Salesman,” a loud kiss-off – “And with one last look back at all the bullshit/You two-stepped to eternity” – that gloriously devolves into a guitar/sax (from Cam Gilmour) squawk-off. Seabird and Gilmour also show up on the album’s last track, the nine-minute epic “Wolf Pine.” Ostensibly about a (very real) famous tree in the Burlington area, the song serves to detail the history of Freeman’s adopted home, from the original native inhabitants of the area to a blanket of volcanic ash in the early 19th century to a boll weevil invasion. After a squall of sound introduces a big, riffy second act, Freeman caps the album with yet another emotional stunner – “Go and count the purple rings of Saturn/Or of your ringed and wounded heart/But there ain’t no long division/That could even keep these two things apart.” All that time, and all that ragged history, has formed the place that Freeman calls home, and he’s not giving it up.
Song I Can’t Wait to Hear Live: “Gone (Can Mean A Lot of Things)” – along with “Gulch,” it’s one of the two most straightforward rock tunes on the record, but “Gone” gets the nod for having one of my favorite song titles this year.
Burnover was produced by Benny Yurco and Greg Freeman, engineered by Yurco, mixed by Adrian Olsen and mastered by Josh Bonati. All songs written by Freeman. Musicians on the album include Freeman (guitar, vocals, harmonica, violin, concertina, melodica, memotron, rusty license plate, synth, glockenspiel, chimes), Yurco (bass, Wurlitzer, group vocals, slide guitar, barnyard sounds), Zack James (drums, tambourine, prepared guitar and bass, Wurlitzer, shaker, acoustic guitar), Sam Atallah (piano, organ, Wurlitzer, trumpet), Cam Gilmour (tenor and soprano saxophone, upright bass), Scott Maynard (drums), Lily Seabird (vocals, bass), Ben Rodgers (pedal steel), Jon Cox (group vocals), Francie Medosch (group vocals), Pat Coyle (vocals), Seth Kauffman (strings), Patrick Sargent (saxophone), Merce Lemon (vocals) and Scott Daniel (violin).
Go here to order Burnover (out August 23): https://gregfreeman.merchtable.com/?
Check out tour dates here: https://greg-freeman.net/
