Freeman Dre

With lyrical dexterity and baritone rasp that has earned him the fitting (albeit lazy) comparison to the holy triumvirate: Dylan, Waits, and Cohen, Freeman Dre is today’s street-wise troubadour. The Toronto-based singer songwriter hails from the once gritty but quickly-gentrifying neighborhood of Parkdale. It’s a place where junkies, winos and new immigrants exist in the shadowy spaces between condo towers and artists lofts. Even as gentrification pushes them out, these wayward characters find a home in Freeman Dre’s songs. The tunes—direct, memorable, romantic, and informed by folk-rock tradition as much as his Irish and Polish roots—invoke beer-swilling singalongs, foot stomping dance parties, and more than a few tears. Like the late night shot of whiskey, Freeman’s Dre music hits you straight in the gut and then fills your head with the foolish idea that, with enough love, anything is possible.