Johnny Flynn has revealed that a trip to Greenwich Village changed how he viewed songwriting.
Travelling to New York to try and win back an old girlfriend, he was taken to a local open mic slot. Flynn went on at four in the morning, to an uninterested audience of drunks. He didn't get the girl, but he was changed by the experience.
“Whether it was good or bad, I felt it was exhilarating that it existed,” he told The Guardian. “When I went back to London, my friends and I decided: ‘It’s alive, the flame is still burning,’ and set up our own night.”
Called Apocalypso, the night were forged with similar songwriters such as Emmy The Great and Tom Hatred. Attracting like minds, soon talk of a scene began bubbling across the city when groups such as Mumford & Sons began to pick up press.
“When I first moved to London, there was talk of a folk revival, with annoying names like nu-folk that made me feel slightly ill,” he said. “The truth is there’s always a hum of people playing folk music in cities. There’s just a tipping point when enough people buy one record that suddenly everyone else gets some attention.”
Sadly, though, Johnny Flynn has escaped the mainstream adoration which has overwhelmed Laura Marling, Mumford & Sons and more. Releasing two striking albums, his songwriting is fuelled by an upbringing in the country.
“There was often music and singing in the local pub. Dad knew all the songs and just needed a pint in him to sing them. It didn’t seem archaic to me, because the music was so alive”.
