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With tens of millions of streams globally and a track on Billboard’s Alternative Airplays charts, Av Freeman, or honestav, is emerging with a new alternative sound. As his debut EP drops, honestav will perform to a sold-out crowd in his first ever hometown headline show at The Regency Live in Springfield on Saturday.
Freeman, who grew up in Pierce City and has lived in Springfield since 2018, has been steadily releasing music since 2021. Recently, some of his singles like “I’d Rather Overdose” have taken off and grown his fanbase, with the track landing on several Billboard charts. Upon returning from touring with MOD SUN and lovelytheband across several cities including San Francisco, Seattle, Salt Lake City, Denver, Chicago and others, Freeman will take the stage as a headliner for the very first time in front of a hometown crowd of 850, tickets to which sold out within two weeks.
‘Edging the line of being a loser’
Growing up as the youngest of six, Freeman was surrounded by music early on and wrote his first song at the age of 12. Each one of his four brothers played an instrument and dreams of becoming a rockstar were commonly shared at home. Growing up in a small town in the Midwest with not many musical influences gave him a blank slate to pave his own way.
“If I told them, whenever I was a kid, I wanted to be a rock star, I wanted to make music for a living, or I wanted to be a writer … they would all be like, ‘Well, you need a plan B,'” he said. “I think what it did for me was give me the hunger to prove people wrong.”
But the path to success was an uncertain one. Freeman stayed committed to working on music while balancing a job without clearly knowing what’s ahead.
“I was 25 years old, working in a warehouse, going to work every day, like edging the line of being a loser,” he said.
Then this year, as if overnight, dreams of a career in music felt more attainable as “I’d Rather Overdose” took off. Freeman had also established a solid base on social media — amassing 1.7 million followers on TikTok with some posts seen by more than 10 million. This momentum allowed Freeman to spend even more time on music and provided a platform to promote it and connect to an audience. Recently, he signed a label deal with Rebel Music/gamma.
“I think I just worked so hard, for so long, one day the dots just kind of connected, and, you know, it felt like … the puzzle was just starting to actually piece together, you can start to see a picture in the puzzle,” he said. “Now, there’s still a lot more to go — I still got a lot more pieces to put on there. But it finally feels like, we’re starting to get somewhere.”
But even with this growth, remaining human and reflecting that rawness of balancing struggles and celebrations of everyday life in his music remains central.
Meshing styles, experiences
The show at The Regency Live on Saturday night follows the Friday release of Freeman’s debut EP “hara-kiri.” The EP features 12 tracks that blend alternative, indie-folk, hip-hop and pop influences as it reflects Freeman’s personal experiences of addiction, loss and healing.
On some tracks, somber melodies and acoustic guitar tones are combined with lyrical verses reflecting mental health struggles and coming to terms with loss. Other songs about partying and drug addiction are backed by more rhythmic grunge sounds and pop influences.
“I tell people, like, I don’t even know what kind of music I make. It’s like, folky, but it’s like a little bit of hip hop,” Freeman said. “It’s just totally like southwest Missouri style of music. It’s just like all the stuff that I’ve ever listened to all thrown into one category.”
Behind each of the 12 songs on the EP, he said there is an experience that gave way for music. Without a narrow message, Freeman wants his music to ignite emotions in his listeners.
“Honestly, I just hope that people can see my growth as an artist, and they can also take their own message from my music,” he said. “I’ve always used music as like a safe space and this album just kind of feels like a safe space.”
Freeman has played 15 shows in the past month. He said being the opener for MOD SUN and lovelytheband gave him confidence to play to the crowd’s energy and gave him space to make mistakes — readying for his headliner back home. Early on in his musical career, Freeman played several shows in Springfield to much smaller crowds, so a homecoming for his first ever headlining show seemed fitting.
“Springfield’s always showed me love,” he said. “I hope that I can give all this great energy that everybody’s given me this week. I hope I can just give it all right back to them on Saturday night.”
With the release of his debut EP and first headliner show, Freeman is ready to take the next steps to bring his sound to a wider audience. His goal is to be able to do music without the grind of promotion.
“Taylor Swift has multiple million pre-saves on her album when she drops it — that’s the end goal I think. I want to be able to make music and just make the music and people to listen to it,” he said with a laugh. “It would be awesome to sing in front of a stadium, but I think the end goal is just having a bunch of people that love my music the way that I love it.”
Marta Mieze covers local government at the News-Leader. Have feedback, tips or story ideas? Contact her at mmieze@news-leader.com.
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