Kansas
Can a storied Kansas rocker put his ‘Bad Reputation’ in the past and find a future in folk music?
Freedy Johnston was almost certainly the only musician at Kansas City’s 2024 Folk Alliance International Conference who once had a video in rotation on MTV. Yet the acclaimed indie-rocker of the 1990s didn’t feel out of place among the 3,000 attendees.
Instead, Johnston viewed the music industry’s most important convention for folk artists as “a job fair,” he said.
In his first time at the annual conference, Johnston hoped to impress domestic and international folk music presenters capable of sustaining his already lengthy career, and overcome bias from people who only associate him with his 1995 rock hit, “Bad Reputation.”
“It would be hard to tell the difference between me and someone else with an acoustic guitar, no matter what their appearance or their lyric content,” Johnston said from the lobby of the Sheraton Kansas City Hotel at Crown Center. “I think I fit in.”
Bill Brownlee
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KCUR 89.3
Johnston’s style and presentation have certainly evolved in the intervening decades, and changing tastes dictate he now often performs in solo acoustic settings.
But while ambitious acts meticulously rehearsed for the occasion, Johnston took a curiously casual approach.
During his 30-minute showcase performance in a hotel ballroom, Johnston worked without a setlist. And rather than featuring his best-known material, he opted for unlikely selections like “Sparky the Heroic Dog,” a novelty song he wrote in high school.
Only a delicate reading of “Darlin’,” a highlight of his 2022 album “Back on the Road to You,” demonstrated the profundity of his talent.
The song features background vocals from one of Johnston’s friends, Aimee Mann, the singer-songwriter who rose to fame in the 1980s with the band Til Tuesday.
Mann also created sketches used in an animated video of the song, about grieving parents.
The online publication Americana UK called the album “a gorgeous collection of guitar jangling summery pop music.” Appearances by Susan Cowsill, of the Cowsills, and Susannah Hoffs, of the Bangles, accentuate the breezy sound.
“If you’re judged by your friends, I hope I’m judged well,” Johnston told KCUR.
Craig Grossman, a booking agent based in Minneapolis with Black Oak Artists, counts himself among Johnston’s friends.
“A lot of people have called Freedy a songwriters’ songwriter,” said Grossman, who has seen plenty of musicians receive big breaks at the conference.
“In the folk world, you could do one or two good size festivals and that can honestly set up your career for many, many years,” Grossman said. “Admittedly, it’s not the same thing as when you’re the new, hot thing and you come in and then everybody wants to be a part of it.”
Johnston was that new hot thing in 1992 when his second album, “Can You Fly,” was rapturously received by critics. The influential music writer Robert Christgau gave the album a rare A+ review in The Village Voice, and NPR contributor Tom Moon included it in his 2008 survey, “1,000 Recordings To Hear Before You Die.”
Marla Norton
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Freedy Johnston
Johnston added to the album’s appeal by including his own backstory in the opening track, “Trying to Tell You I Don’t Know.”
“I inherited farmland from my grandfather and I decided to sell it right away,” Johnston said. “It was the land, the first house I lived in … (and) the house where I learned to walk.”
The sale bankrolled Johnston’s then-fledgling music career, and financed his move from Lawrence, Kansas, to New York City.
“I sold everything, you know… just to do this,” he said. “Just about the stupidest thing that anybody could ever do. It worked out in my case.”
In spite of critical adulation and guidance over the years from elite producers like T Bone Burnett and Butch Vig, Johnston, now 62 and based in Portland, Oregon, operates on the fringes of the music industry.
Even so, he isn’t bitter.
“My mother got to see me on MTV for a minute, you know? And I flew her to see me open up for Sheryl Crow — huge deal. The first time she’d ever been on a jet plane, all that stuff,” Johnston said. “So I backed it up, you know?”
Johnston backed up his legacy at the Folk Alliance International Conference this year with flashes of his unique talent. And whether or not he caught a break in Kansas City, he intends to persevere.
“I have to keep doing it, it’s not really a choice. There’s not an exit strategy,” Johnston confessed. “I’m a songwriter, you know? That’s all I can do.”
CHICAGO — Kansas City Royals first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino started pointing toward the locker of teammate Seth Lugo after their 8-4 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday. Lugo, 35, had just pitched six solid innings in sweltering heat, leading Kansas City to its 50th win of the season.
“I’d like to see him pitch for us again,” Pasquantino said while pointing. “I’d really like to see him in a Royals jersey in his next start. We’re trying to make that happen. That’s up to us.”
The Royals are one of the bubble teams in the American League, having picked up some ground on the wild-card leaders after taking two of three from the Cubs. But they are still three games under .500 as the MLB trade deadline approaches next week. Lugo would be an attractive player for another team, as he is set to become a free agent, assuming he turns down his player option for next season.
Kansas City should do well in a trade if it chooses to move him. Lugo’s ERA sits at 2.95 after he gave up two runs in his six innings Wednesday.
“His name is prevalent, especially here [Chicago],” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said before the game. “I’m aware of that. We talked about it openly, understanding we like what we have here. We believe if we can string some good games together, we can get back in this thing.”
If they can’t get back in it, the Cubs are among the teams expected to be interested in Lugo’s services. Their starting pitching after top guys Shota Imanaga and All-Star Matthew Boyd is suspect. Righty Colin Rea gave up three home runs Wednesday, two to Pasquantino. Lugo easily outpitched him, giving up four hits and two walks while striking out six on an extremely hitter-friendly day at Wrigley Field. The wind was blowing out, but Lugo kept the ball in the park.
Afterward, he was asked how he keeps his mind focused considering the rumors swirling around him.
“You don’t think about it,” he said. “You worry about the start. That’s it.”
Lugo was pleased to hear Pasquantino go to bat for him. He said he’d rather stay and win with the Royals than be shipped out.
“I want to be here through the thick and thin,” he said. “It’s a good team. We just have to be more consistent and we’ll be all right.”
Kansas City has hovered around the .500 mark all season but hasn’t been able to get over the hump in the wild-card race. The win Wednesday drew the Royals within four games of the final wild-card spot but with four teams to overcome.
Quatraro waved off the trade talk, citing the unpredictability of the season after the deadline. No matter what his front office does, he wants his team to continue to push.
“You can add to your team and not play as well,” he said. “You can subtract from your team and play better. Or you can stay status quo and get hot.”
Pasquantino added: “It’s a business. Teams have to make business decisions, but as far as I’m concerned, I want [Lugo] in Royals blue for the rest of the season.”
After a day off Thursday, the Royals begin a homestand that will take them through the deadline on July 31. Lugo would be in line to start against the Atlanta Braves next week before the deadline, but it remains to be seen whether he’ll take the mound as scheduled.
“Start today,” he said. “Off day tomorrow, and it’s back to work after that. Control what I can control. Go about my routine. Go about my business.”
The Kansas City Chiefs had history in their sights this past February as they stood across from the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LIX. With a Chiefs victory, they would have become the first NFL franchise to win three consecutive Super Bowl championships. However, their bid for history came up short.
The Chiefs got embarrassed by the Eagles by the final score of 40-22. And while the final linescore doesn’t look too bad, the game was really never close, as the Chiefs’ offense faltered and their defense couldn’t hold its own.
Going into the offseason with their first Super Bowl defeat since the 2023 campaign. The front office was aggressive in both free agency and through the 2025 NFL Draft. Adding several new players and reuniting with some old faces this offseason, the Chiefs are looking to be as dominant as they have been in years past.
So much so that the word “revenge” has been tossed around all offseason. The Chiefs still have history on the horizon if they can make it to the Super Bowl again this season, but it’s a long road ahead before they can think of that.
With revenge being the theme for the storyline, Peter Schrager gave his top five storylines going into the new campaign, which featured this Chiefs storyline as the headliner.
“Thoroughly and utterly embarrassed in the Super Bowl. Mortifying performance from this team. We were talking dynasty. We were talking the first team to ever three repeat in the Super Bowl era and they laid an all-time egg on the biggest of stages,” Schrager said on First Take.
“Do the Chiefs respond and get off the mat? Is this Patrick Mahomes doing his last chance, last dance, Michael Jordan in the wait room the day after losing to the Pistons? Or is this window closed and Mahomes and Kelce are a thing of yesteryear?
So long as the Chiefs’ offense can stay healthy, and if the defense can maintain what they did last season into this season, revenge could easily be on the table. The biggest sense of revenge for the Chiefs comes in Week 2 as they host the Eagles at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium in a Super Bowl LIX rematch.
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KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – Federal charges have been filed against 14 individuals believed to be involved in a drug trafficking ring that operated near a Kansas City park.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Missouri announced on Thursday, July 17, that 14 defendants have been indicted for their roles in a Kansas City drug trafficking ring.
Court documents indicated the 80-count indictment was returned under seal by a federal grand jury in Kansas City on Wednesday. The accused include:
- Antwan L. Fayne, a.k.a. “Twelve,” 43
- Aaron T. James, 37
- Timothy E. Murphy, 59
- James E. Barton, 46
- Allison R. Shea, 30
- Rodney Vaughn, 60
- Charles E. Hall, 40
- Brad Akins, 38
- Joshua A. Kisner, 38
- Devion R. McDonald, 31
- Ida M. Gates, 41
- Cora E. Fayne, 69
- Walter L. Brown, 61
- Marcus L. Whitley, 54
Prosecutors noted that the indictment was sealed on Thursday following the arrest of several defendants. It replaces three criminal complaints filed against six defendants earlier this month.
Additionally, court records showed that there are 6 defendants charged with maintaining a drug house. There are 16 counts related to the distribution of controlled substances within 1,000 ft. of a public playground and several firearms offenses.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ashleigh Ragner and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney James Kirkpatrick. It remains under investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Kansas City Police Department; the IRS Criminal Investigation Unit; the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
Copyright 2025 KCTV. All rights reserved.
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