Freedy Shows He Can Fly

Freedy Johnston, 31, didn’t write his first song until six years ago, and for a long time he kept his music private, afraid that people wouldn’t like it. Now he has a second album out on the New Jersey-based independent Bar/None label, and the alternative rock world is suddenly paying attention.

The album, “Can You Fly,” features a series of poignant, evocative and enigmatic songs, folk-rock merging with power-pop arrangements behind Johnston’s high, aching, Neil Young-style quiver. Reviews have been glowing, and the Hoboken resident has just started his first national tour. He opens for They Might Be Giants tonight at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano.

That’s all far beyond the wildest dreams Johnston had as he grew up, mainly in tiny Kinsley, Kan.

“Yeah, it was very stifling,” he said during a recent phone interview. “I’d be lying if I didn’t say there was some bitterness at having grown up in such an isolated place. Living in a small town, high school of 200 or 300 people, no record stores. It’s nothin’, man. Frustrating. The first thing I did when I came of age was get out.”

He moved to the university city of Lawrence, Kan., where, exposed to a wide range of new music, he began writing. Eventually, he got his music out to record companies and signed with Bar/None, which released his eccentric, eclectic debut album “The Trouble Tree” in 1990. Though he finds it “embarrassing” to listen to now, the album attracted the beginnings of a cult following.

He recently quit the last of his day jobs (doing office work for an architect) to devote himself full time to his music career. But while he’s come a long way from Kinsley, his desolate upbringing remains a major force in his songs.

“I mean, generally the narrators are on their own, dealing with loss or loneliness or alienation,” he said. “I hope it doesn’t come across as cynical or bitter. It’s the outsider. I’m not a really morbid or morose person, but like most people I know, I had a kind of broken upbringing, living with various parents and grandparents and stuff, kind of moving around.

“That comes through in my music, I think--kind of seeking, wandering. Not quite disillusioned, but just a little bit dejected. There’s definitely a melancholy tone. I have to admit that I don’t write happy songs. I don’t want to make myself out to be any kind of tortured artist, but that’s my background. But also, I get more from sad songs. They seem to mean more to me.”