Freedy Johnston

A month after playing a series of free shows in Wichita, native Kansan Freedy Johnston heads east to the Jackpot. As he did for those October homecoming gigs, Johnston will share the microphone with Split Lip Rayfield’s Wayne Gottstine. (Another Rayfield alum, Eric Mardis, doubles up with Paw grad Grant Fitch to open the night.) In the 14 years since his major-label debut, This Perfect World, Johnston has recorded steadily but rarely bettered that album or his 1992 sold-the-family-farm-to-make-it milestone, Can You Fly. But what his more recent discs have lacked remains plenty apparent onstage, especially when the format is loose, and the set list is sure to include surprises. Among the possibilities: cuts from Johnston’s affectionate new covers album (has anyone else ever attempted Paul McCartney’s “Listen to What the Man Said”?) and hints of the album he’s working on in Nashville between visits to the Sunflower State.