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Seven Years Disappear (wt)

Sponsored Project

  • Michael X. Ferraro, Director/Producer
  • Butch Vig, Producer
  • Jen Lakin, Producer
A lone man plays an acoustic guitar on the side of a freeway, silhouetted by the sunset at his back

About the Project

Seven Years Disappear chronicles the music, the mural and the turbulent personal life of acclaimed singer-songwriter Freedy Johnston, named Rolling Stone's "Songwriter of the Year" in 1994.

Freedy's narrative arc is an emotional, physical and musical odyssey. It feels like the stuff of The Wizard of Oz, “Jack & The Beanstalk,” and Greek mythology-- complete with an achingly lovely soundtrack by an artist who music writer Michael Azerrad once likened to “Hank Williams meets Steely Dan.”

The film starts with a celebratory moment-- coming back to his tiny hometown of Kinsley, Kansas in 2024 to paint a mural at the behest of the Lieutenant Governor. But the wandering troubadour Freedy soon flashes back to two critical junctures in his life: the agonizing decision to sell the family farm in 1991 to fund his breakthrough album "Can You Fly"; and severe childhood adversity that he is still processing to this day.