I’ve been a fan of my fellow Delco resident Freedom Kerl for a while now — so much so that I contributed some gang vocals to his paean to the Philadelphia Eagles (and, perhaps obviously, against the Cowboys) “Dallas Sucks.” But more on that later! For now, all you need to know is that Freedom Kerl is a wildly productive, funny musician whose lyrics always cut straight to the point.

You record and perform under the name Freedom Kerl. How did you decide on “Freedom” as a stage name?

I played guitar in an original rock n roll band called Tangeena Barren in the 90s. We formed in Delco but moved to Chapel Hill NC, because I read an article in Rolling Stone that said ’Chapell Hill was gonna be the next Seattle for a music boom’. We did well down South, and in preparation for my superstardom (which never happened) I legally changed my name to Freedom Kerl. It’s still my legal name, it’s on my driver’s license, credit cards, mortgages, etc. (See attached…)

Instagram followers can count on a photo of your drink of choice — an old fashioned — every week or so. Do you think of yourself as old-fashioned? 

Haha, I do enjoy a weekly old fashioned cocktail! My brother in law, Matt Lista, turned me onto that drink. Now that I’m in my 50s I think it’s more appropriate than just pounding Bud Light cans all weekend 😊. When it comes to my musical taste, I’m as old fashioned AND as modern as you can get. For example, I was watching Lightning Hopkins and Sister Rosetta Tharpe videos on Youtube this past weekend, but I was also listening to the new Kendrick Lamar album on my walking pad.

Your lyrics tend to be very direct. The titles of “Fuck You Cancer,” for example, and “Dallas Sucks” say it all. What’s behind your approach to writing? 

I’m unable to write in abstracts. I typically start with a phrase I overhear or read somewhere (Ex. Front Porch of My Heart, No One’s Perfect, My Ex-Dog Died, Sunburn on My Penis, Stop Watching the News, Rest in Beer, Hold My Wine,  Don’t Change That Dial, etc) and then try to paint a picture around that phrase. Last summer I overheard the phrase ‘Hold My Wine’ and I thought it was awesome! For weeks I tried to write it from the perspective of a guy who’s kinda metro and doesn’t drink beer, then finally I realized it should be about a woman, out with her friends, being harassed by some jerky dude and she asks her friend to ‘hold her wine’ while she sets him straight. 

I love that! But go on…

Sometimes it flows out in 30 minutes, other times it takes months. Very rarely (maybe twice) a complete song has come to me in a dream, most recently ‘Shark Tank’ from the ‘Internal Kombustion’ EP. I woke up at 3am with the whole song and chords (thankfully only 3) in my head, it was a cool experience!

Given the lyrics of “Dallas Sucks,” I’m sure you were very happy with the Eagles’ victory in this year’s Super Bowl. Any chance you’ll be writing more football-themed tunes?  

Go Birds! Not a chance I’ll be writing any more football songs. Plus, I got Jason Kelce to be on the song, I can’t top that!

When you write ‘Stairway to Heaven’, you don’t continue writing celestial-themed songs 😉

Reminder, all proceeds of the ‘Dallas Sucks’ song go to Eagles For Autism Foundation. The goal is to have that song played at The Linc when the Cowgirls come to Philly!

“Fuck You Cancer” strikes me as a particularly personal song. Are you okay talking about the experiences that inspired it? 

Thanks for mentioning ‘Fuck You Cancer’. I’m very proud of that song. It was written when my cousin Maureen (who passed at age 47) was battling fucking-cancer. I recently joined TikTok and found there are over 200 people using that song to express their anger with their own cancer battles. Some of the folks on TikTok are even dancing and mouthing the lyrics…it hit me pretty hard when I first saw it. I cried because I know what they’re going through, and it’s touching to know that my song is an outlet for them to vent their frustrations. 

FUCK CANCER!

Absolutely. I’m also thinking about “If My Daughter Marries” from your Peace and Love album. The song expresses a beautiful sentiment, but I also feel like there’s a political element to declaring your love for your daughter regardless of whom she marries, or who she is, or what she does with her life. Do you think of yourself as political?

That’s another one I’m very proud of! Both my girls are on that song reciting a prayer I taught them when they were very little. My friend Jack Gillespie plays all the lead guitars (acoustic and electric) on that song, he’s a beast! 

 I don’t consider myself political and could never be politician because I don’t ‘toe the line’. I have my ‘beliefs’ and they are not formed by politics, they are formed by my surrounding family and friends, and my own life experiences. 

Is that your daughter in the spoken-word bridge of the song? 

Yes, both Grace Lynn and Bailey Gene reciting ‘Dear God, please bless my family and friends and everyone in the world. I promise to treat other people the way I would like to be treated. Thanks for everything God. Amen’. 😊

You also do a decent bit of collaborating with other artists. Who are some of your favorite artists to work with, and what have they brought to your music?

I am so lucky to be surrounded by super-talented friends and family members. In 2015, I produced and played on a cover of ‘Something’ by The Beatles, and the musicians were all ‘Kerl-spawn’. My brother Josh Kerl, kousins Mike Kropp, Teri Kropp, Marley Kropp, Ruthann Kropp, David Crowley, and Koda Kerl all played or sang on it. The cover art is a picture of our grandparent’s home in Drexel Hill. 

In 2023, I released a summer-pop album called ‘Golden Hour’ and my other brother, Matt Vasaturo, sang all the songs, duet style, with a friend Mary Callaghan (wonderful voice). 

There’s so many kollaborations in my katalog and I’m grateful for every one of them. My album ‘Interpreting the Klassics’ is all cover songs and filled with kollaborations, it’s pretty awesome (if I don’t say so myself)!

My friend Paul Scheb will come over whenever I need him to sing a song, and he doesn’t even ask what the song is before he comes over, he’s willing to sing almost anything which makes it a lot of fun, because I write some whacky stuff at times 😊

Your latest album is called The Kountry Album, and the cover image looks like an AI generated cowboy on a kind of horse/unicorn/giraffe hybrid. How might that image reflect the music on the album? 

I set out to make an authentic county album and wrote all the songs on an acoustic guitar (except the Whitney Houston cover), adding multiple musicians later to ‘bring the twang’. The genre is one I ignored for many years because modern country music got too corny for my taste, but then I started to dig and learned there are still great, authentic, country songwriters in the game, you just gotta search  for them (like any other genre). An old pal from the Chapel Hill days (John Howie Jr) sang on that album, and it was all the validation I needed to be confident this was a good project! He is my favorite (living) country voice.

The artwork for the album cover is AI generated. It’s a ‘cowboy on a girafficorn’. When my daughter Grace was very young, I asked her what her favorite animal was? She said ‘a girafficorn’. I think the kover art reflects the music because they’re both an extension of my kreativity. 

I understand you’re currently working on a Greatest Hits album — Volume III, to be exact. How are you deciding what to include?

It’s not that difficult, since I am my own biggest fan, I asked myself ‘which songs would I want to hear on my Greatest Hits Volume III album?’, then I put a playlist together and listened to it a few times. Finally, I sent it over to my sister in law, Jessie Kerl, for her approval, (she’s the President of my Instagram fan klub) and she gave it the thumbs up, so we’re all good. 😊

Anything else on the horizon?

Always! My motto is: quantity > quality 😊

I’m toying with a rap album idea. 

Nice! Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions! 

Thank for your interest in my art!