Album Notes

The debut album "HOW MUCH IS FREE" from multi-instrumentalist JOHNNY FREEMAN makes it clear that there's no end to the energy - or talent - he possesses. While his music features soaring, pop friendly vocals, it's his COMMITMENT to providing the listener with a truly heartfelt, UPLIFTING experience that separates him from the rest of his contemporaries. This is a work of uncompromising, eclectic R&B that touches on acoustic, jazz, blues and hip-hop. Lyrically steeped in introspection the project contains therapeutic as well as entertainment benefits. The CD starts out with a blistering funk workout that is laced with horns called “tap into my love”, then you find yourself floating through such standout tracks as “ocean”, and the 2005 R&R hit single “the love”. This free spirited groove machine wants his music to SHAKE you right down to your SOUL. One LOOK at Freeman’s upbringing, and it’s no wonder he brings so many DIVERSE elements to his music. His list of hometowns reads like a wacky Greyhound schedule. Born in Minneapolis, he followed his family through Michigan, St. Louis, Arizona, California and Texas. But his teen years in the Bay Area of Northern California may have shaped his musical tastes most, as he fell into a crowd inspired by the funky FUSION sounds bubbling out of Oakland in the ‘80s and ‘90s. Past that, Freeman cites Prince, Earth, Wind & Fire, Bob Marley, Stevie Wonder, Tower of Power and the funky, lighthearted progressiveness of early rap and hip-hop as primary INFLUENCES. “I like music that moves and surprises the listener,” he says, “and I like music that has some CONSCIOUSNESS and a positive vibe to it.” "When I EXPERIENCE music, the GROOVE is always what GRABS me first. I listen to the SOUND of a song, what's making it WORK. Then I LISTEN to what it's saying, the VIBE of it. It doesn't have to be DEEP, it just has to strike me as HONEST on some level. That's the experience I desire for my listeners!"