Quiet Entertainer Revisits His Roots With ‘Greg Again…’

Evolution and reinvention are important parts of an enduring artist’s practice. They’re two of the reasons we love art and the humans who make it, and they’re key to making life as a musician (and a music fan) be fun and rewarding. The philosophy that what ain’t broke doesn’t need fixing applies in plenty of cases, and not every remix is really revelatory. But fresh ears — or even fresh technology — can breathe new life into old ideas and help them get closer to what’s in the artist’s head, and maybe even take the work further than they imagined. So it makes sense that 20 years into performing as Quiet Entertainer, Nashville DJ and producer Greg Freeman has returned to his roots with his slyly named new record Greg Again… (which, for anyone not deep into contemporary electronic music, is a nod to U.K. producer and recent Bonnaroo headliner Fred Again..).

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“The talent, creativity and inspiration is everywhere.” 

“I’m doing remixes of all of my best instrumental songs, and kind of rejoining them and making the production a little nicer, and having nicer arrangements — and then putting it out,” Freeman explains. “I wanted to give myself another shot and really just equip myself to play better sets, and just have better reactions during my sets. But also [I wanted] to get out of the mode of just playing gigs and try to get back into creating and making stuff and doing.” 

After two decades of pushing musical boundaries of Music City, making hip-hop and dance music that falls outside the borders of even the underground cliques that make up those scenes, Freeman has stockpiled an enormous repertoire. Constantly probing the edges of his own creativity, often at the expense of traditional popularity, Freeman’s vision of where music can go is ready for reappraisal by both artist and audience.

“It’s that same ethos, but I’ve learned a lot since [the early days],” says Freeman. “Those first tracks that I did were really meant for rappers. And it’s just too weird to be rapped on, or it’s too elaborate, or too many samples — or whatever people’s thoughts were to why this doesn’t really work. But [as a] cool track, it’s cool. I’m still trying to build an entire thing around what I’m doing. That’s the other reason why I’m doing Greg Again… — trying to just relaunch this idea, and drive it home that I’m still going. I still have just a lot of expression around Quiet Entertainer, and it’s still my thing.” 

Quiet Entertainer’s thing has always been left of center. In addition to hip-hop that’s too weird for the hardcore heads and dance music that’s too creative for the club, he’s become adept at crafting strange arrangements and building a live band that explores regions of the mind beyond the self-imposed borders of normie Nashville.  

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“That’s kind of been my challenge: ‘How do I get people to care about what I’m doing as an artist, or care about this type of music?’” says Freeman. “I feel like I’m closer than I ever thought I would be, just because I’m trying. I just like to try, and then I feel good about doing stuff that I tried to do or didn’t realize I could do.”

Patience and perseverance seem to be the right path. The first time Freeman appeared in these pages — as part of a story about the late, lamented Cafe Coco’s nascent hip-hop scene way back in 2009 — hip-hop and electronic music were barely visible in Middle Tennessee. Today both the city and its performers feel ready for deeper dives into headier sounds. The growth has been astounding, and it’s not over yet. 

“I still have many years of ideas to execute and it’s all going to happen, but first things first, right? I still have a lot to do. This is not my final form.”

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• Sean L. Maloney