Vermont
On the eve of his sophomore release, Vermont singer-songwriter Greg Freeman’s star is rising higher – VTDigger
It took a little time for Greg Freeman’s debut record to really make its mark.
The Burlington-based singer-songwriter released “I Looked Out” in July 2022 on the tiny Oregon label Bud Tapes to little fanfare and sparse reviews. About five months later, Freeman and his band took the record on tour outside of Vermont.
By then, the album had begun to develop a following, an authentic word-of-mouth success that has gradually picked up steam, making Freeman something of a cult figure among those in the know.
“The reception was pretty slow building, I guess,” Freeman said recently, reclining on the porch of his Burlington home, one of the many faded clapboard houses that line the city’s downtown streets.
Just a few weeks prior, the Vermont musician had returned from his first extended tour in Europe, where he was pleasantly surprised by the turnout he generated.
“People came to the Paris show,” Freeman said, nodding happily. “The England shows that we did were really great too.”
This past fall, Freeman was signed to Canvasback, an imprint of Transgressive Records, which promptly reissued “I Looked Out” on vinyl.
In August, the label is releasing Freeman’s second LP, “Burnover,” which is poised to be a career defining success, the kind of thing you could hear blasting in dorm rooms and dive bars alike for the rest of the year.
It’s a sprawling, dreamlike collection of elegant indie gems and hard rock epics, anchored by razor sharp guitar riffs and the distinctly airy voice that has earned Freeman comparisons to Neil Young and Jason Molina, of Songs: Ohia fame.
Freeman said he wrote a good portion of the album in a single sprint, a month long period after his first tour for “I Looked Out” that he spent hunkering down with his guitar back in Vermont.
“I just woke up in this house every day, and everyone was at work, and I played music and watched movies all day long,” Freeman said, looking across his porch. “I think once you do that for long enough, things start flowing better.”
Shortly thereafter, a steady stream of retrospective praise for his debut and raucous live performances began to lay a long runway for the new album’s arrival.
Last spring, he and his band appeared at South by Southwest and were singled out in subsequent coverage of the Texas music festival.
Write ups in Paste, Stereogum and Rolling Stone have since followed, with some heralding Freeman as the next MJ Lenderman — the 26-year old Asheville-based musician and current golden boy of indie rock.
Freeman has also been getting invitations to share the stage with larger names. Prior to his jaunt in Europe, he supported Walkmen singer Hamilton Leithausser for a stretch of his solo tour, and in the Fall he’ll be opening for the iconic indie band Grandaddy for a series of shows in the Northeast.
Freeman grew up in Bethesda, Maryland, playing guitar in his room while nursing an obsession with traditional blues greats like Robert Johnson and Blind Lemon Jefferson from an early age.
The White Stripes, with their Son House covers and blues-inflected garage jams, served as a gateway drug from the early masters to the classic rock and contemporary indie records that Freeman began to favor more throughout high school and college. “That was the first, like, contemporary band that I was super into,” he said.
Before attending the University of Vermont, he took a gap year and played alone at open mics across the country, often sleeping in his car as he hopped from town to town.
When Freeman finally arrived in Burlington in 2017, he was bowled over by the vitality of the local music scene. “I came here and everyone was in bands, and there was so much music everywhere,” Freeman said. “That was really a first for me.”
Freeman joined the fray, playing basement shows before moving up to venues like Radio Bean and Artsriot, where he mostly performed as a solo artist backed by many of the musicians that remain in his band today.
In the years since, Freeman has stayed around the Queen City, becoming a mainstay in the city’s burgeoning indie scene alongside friends and contemporaries like the band Robber Robber and singer-songwriter Lily Seabird, who played with Freeman’s band for several years.
With its tight-knit social scene and sprawling bucolic surroundings, Burlington is, for Freeman, a city of contradictions that has given him much of his material. Scraps of overheard dialogue make it into his work, as do shades of the more complicated social dynamics that come with living in such a small city.
“There’s kind of like a suffocating social environment here sometimes,” he said, grinning. “But then there’s also, you know, so much green, beautiful space.”
The odd contrast is something Freeman said he tried to evoke in Burnover. For all its catchy hooks and colorful guitars, the record is a study in the peculiar feeling of loneliness that you get from never quite being alone.
“My thoughts die out slowly on the blood swept plains / where I see you every night,” Freeman sings on “Curtain,” one of the singles from the record.
Rejecting the term “concept album,” Freeman said that “Burnover” was more intentionally cohesive than his last, with sonic motifs and language that recur throughout.
“I want you to be able to visualize a certain place when you listen to the whole thing,” he said.
The place isn’t Vermont or New England exactly, he said, but something similar, something green, gothic, weird.
“I’m always kind of trying to write about the places where I live — the spaces around me and the people around me,” he said.
Accordingly, whatever comes after “Burnover” could represent a change of pace for the Vermont musician.
Before he accompanied Leithauser on tour, he headed to New Mexico, where he spent almost a month alone in the desert, writing the bulk of what will be his third album.
“It was pretty out there,” Freeman said.
He returned home with a batch of new songs, but his sojourn out west hasn’t made him want to leave. For now, he said, he would be in Burlington for the foreseeable future.
“It’s weird, though, how much has happened in this neighborhood,” he said as he peered down the road. “I’ve lived on all these streets.”
Vermont
Girls Vermont Varsity Insider Athlete of the Week winner powered by Delta Dental
The votes have been tallied and the girls winner of the Vermont Varsity Insider Athlete of the Week powered by Delta Dental is … Callie Spaulding of Windsor basketball.
Spaulding collected 51.55% of the 43,310 total votes cast in the girls contest. The junior was nominated after helping Windsor advance to the Division III semifinals for the 10th consecutive year with double-digit outings in a pair of playoff contests. Spaulding chipped in 10 points and three assists during the playdowns and was one of four Yellow Jackets to score double digits (11 points) in their quarterfinal victory over Enosburg.
The online voting at burlingtonfreepress.com began Monday, March 2, and closed at 9 p.m. on Thursday, March 5.
Check burlingtonfreepress.com for the next ballot, which will be published on Monday, March 9.
Delta Dental Girls Athlete of the Week winners in 2025-26 school year
Winter season
Feb. 23-March 1: Callie Spaulding, Windsor basketball
Feb. 16-22: Lydia Ruggles, St. Johnsbury gymnastics
Feb. 9-15: Mae Oakley, Burr and Burton, Alpine skiing
Feb. 2-8: Chloe Moodie, Peoples basketball
Jan. 26-Feb. 1: Marlie Bushey, Milton basketball
Jan. 19-25: Brinley Gandin, Rutland basketball
Jan. 12-18: Grace Bourn, Rivendell basketball
Jan. 5-11: Patricia Stabach, Stowe indoor track and field
Dec. 29-Jan. 4: Hannah Drury, U-32 hockey
Dec. 22-28: Brooke Osgood, Oxbow basketball
Dec. 15-21: Kayla Cisse, South Burlington basketball
Dec. 12-14: Harlow Hier, Colchester basketball
Fall season
Oct. 27-Nov. 2: Eme Silverman, Poultney soccer
Oct. 20-26: Veronica Moore, Bellows Falls field hockey
Oct. 13-19: Ava Francis, Vergennes soccer
Oct. 6-12: Savannah Monahan, Milton soccer
Sept. 29-Oct. 5: Rachel Scherer, North Country soccer
Sept. 22-28: Trista Favreau-Ward, Missisquoi field hockey
Sept. 15-21: Reese Gregory, Essex volleyball
Sept. 8-14: Isabelle Gouin, Hazen soccer
Aug. 29-Sept. 7: Avery Hansen, Lake Region soccer
Contact Alex Abrami at aabrami@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter: @aabrami5.
Contact Judith Altneu at JAltneu@usatodayco.com. Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter: @Judith_Altneu.
Vermont
Friends, family rally behind Vermont veteran charged with domestic terrorism
NEWPORT, Vt. (WCAX) – Friends and family of a Vermont veteran charged with domestic terrorism rallied in Newport Thursday, saying the charges stem from a mental health crisis and are unwarranted.
Vermont State Police say Joseph “J.J.” Millett, 38, of Newport, called a veterans crisis line in February, making suicidal statements and threatening a mass-casualty event.
Court records say Millett had guns and wrote what investigators call a manifesto. He turned himself in, and state police say they disarmed him at the barracks. He pleaded not guilty and was never formally arrested or placed in jail. He is currently in a treatment facility.
Supporters say the threats were the result of new medication and a mental health crisis. “But all the way to domestic terrorism for a man that fought overseas — he wasn’t a terrorist. He’s been fighting terrorists half his life,” said Chad Abbott, a friend who served with Millett overseas.
Abbott said he believes the charges could have unintended consequences for veterans seeking help. “These hotlines that they put out for us is to kind of get us the help we need. And now, none of us are going to want to call that,” he said.
Millett’s sister, Courtney Morin, said her brother served in the Vermont Guard for nearly 10 years and has struggled with mental health since returning home. “He suffers from depression, anxiety — he has PTSD. So, he’s actually been seeking help for his mental health for probably as long as he’s been home,” Morin said.
Orleans County State’s Attorney Farzana Leyva said the charge is warranted and that Millett was not calling for help when he contacted the crisis line. “He called the crisis helpline to make the threats. I think we have to be very clear about that. Those were threats. He did not call the crisis helpline for help. He called anonymously,” Leyva said.
She said the evidence — including repeated threats — Millett’s access to guns, and a manifesto justifies the charge and protects the public. “My priority is public safety, which is the highest priority that I have right now,” Leyva said.
Morin said she believes her brother was trying to get help. “I think he was seeking help. I mean, it’s all a trail of him seeking help, being on different meds. You know, we’re not in his head. We don’t know what he’s dealing with. And especially if you’re dealing with it alone,” Morin said.
Millett continues to receive treatment and is due back in court later this month.
Copyright 2026 WCAX. All rights reserved.
Vermont
Vermont high school playoff scores, results, stats for Thursday, March 5
The 2025-2026 Vermont high school winter season has begun. See below for scores, schedules and game details (statistical leaders, game notes) from basketball, hockey, gymnastics, wrestling, Nordic/Alpine skiing and other winter sports.
TO REPORT SCORES
Coaches or team representatives are asked to report results ASAP after games by emailing sports@burlingtonfreepress.com. Please submit with a name/contact number.
▶ Contact Alex Abrami at aabrami@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter: @aabrami5.
▶ Contact Judith Altneu at JAltneu@usatodayco.com. Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter: @Judith_Altneu.
THURSDAY’S H.S. PLAYOFF GAMES
D-III GIRLS BASKETBALL SEMIFINALS
At Barre Auditorium
No. 5 Vergennes (17-4) vs. No. 1 Hazen (18-2), 5:30 p.m.
No. 3 Oxbow (16-6) vs. No. 2 Windsor (16-6), 7:30 p.m.
Watch Vermont high school sports on NFHS Network
D-I BOYS BASKETBALL QUARTERFINALS
Games at 7 p.m. unless noted
No. 8 Mount Mansfield (10-11) at No. 1 Rice Memorial (17-3)
No. 12 Essex (5-16) at No. 4 Rutland (15-6)
No. 7 Burr and Burton (13-8) at No. 2 South Burlington (15-5), 6 p.m.
No. 6 BFA-St. Albans (13-8) vs. No. 3 Burlington (15-5) at Colchester, 7:30 p.m.
D-II GIRLS HOCKEY QUARTERFINALS
No. 8 Stowe (5-16) vs. No. 1 U-32 (13-6-1) at Kreitzberg Arena, 5 p.m.
(Subject to change)
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