The Vermont rocker Greg Freeman has been growing in stature lately, in large part thanks to the slow-burn success of his 2022 debut album I Looked Out. (His ripping performance at our Austin party this year did not hurt.) Today Freeman has announced his signing to Canvasback/Transgressive Records, who’ll reissue I Looked Out in with two bonus tracks. The digital reissue is out now, with the physical to follow in January.

Included on the reissue is a new acoustic version of “Long Distance Driver.” The original song was a darkly creeping folk-rock tune in the vein of Neil Young, perhaps via Built To Spill. This new rendition features recent Artist To Watch Merce Lemon and goes to haunting, Jason Molina-esque places. Freeman shared this statement:

I wrote this song a few years ago, when the world was entering a scary and uncertain time, and hope seemed fleeting and very far in the distance. The song is about wanting to find connection in such a world. In a way, it feels like an old song to me at this point, but that place of uncertainty feels even more pronounced than when I wrote it. The acoustic version is just more sparse. There’s a harmonica instead of a saxophone. There’s no drums either. Merce does the high part and I do the low part. I also play the concertina in the recording. Our friend Nate Campisi recorded the song at Mr. Smalls studio in Pittsburgh (where we also recorded the video). It used to be an old church.

Below, check out the studio recording of the Lemon collab, a special live video of the same, and the full reissued album.

The I Looked Out reissue is out now digitally and 1/15 on vinyl on Canvasback/Transgressive, and a press release indicates that we should be on the lookout for new Freeman music next year as well.