NEVER HOME |

Personnel: Freedy Johnston (vocals, guitar, tenor guitar); Danny Kortchmar (guitar, keyboards, percussion); Dave Schramm (guitar, lap steel guitar); Jane Scarpantoni (cello); Graham Maby (bass); Stan Lynch (drums, percussion, guitar); Mary Lee Kortes (background vocals).
Recorded at Acme Recording Studios, Mamaroneck, New York; Studio Fred and Hit Factory, New York, New York.
Personnel: Freedy Johnston (vocals, guitar); Dave Schramm (guitar, lap steel guitar); Danny Kortchmar (guitar, keyboards, percussion); Stan Lynch (guitar, drums, percussion); Jane Scarpantoni (cello); Mary Lee Kortes (background vocals).
Audio Mixer: Peter Denenberg.
Recording information: Acme Studios, Mamaroneck, NY; Hit Factory, New York, NY; Studio Fred, New York, NY.
Johnston's greatest gift is his ability to place himself inside a character and tell that character's story by making detailed, incisive observations about his surroundings. NEVER HOME is like an open door to a rogue's gallery full of these stories. Johnston's protagonists are men threatened by situations they cannot control: the fringe-dweller confounded by his impending fatherhood ("If It's True"), the man haunted by the ghost of a past love ("Seventies Girl"). Each dilemma is rendered with precision.
The switch in producers from Butch Vig on THIS PERFECT WORLD to mellow-rock maven Danny Kortchmar, who also plays guitar, might alarm some Freedy fans. But the production approach on NEVER HOME is, if anything, even more direct and immediate than on Johnston's previous releases. With support from Joe Jackson/Marshall Crenshaw bassist Graham Maby and New York guitar antihero Dave Schramm, Johnston's post-Elvis Costello pop-rock lives and breathes as vibrantly as the characters in his songs.

• Genre: Rock
• Format: CD
• Released: 1997-02-25