John Francis Flynn is leading Ireland's folk music renaissance
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Loading... - Charlotte Reid
- 19 Jan 2022
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At the start of 2021, John Francis Flynn was, it is fair to say, another struggling Dublin folk singer. But a year later, following the release without hoopla of his debut solo album I Would Not Live Always in July, his reputation has moved beyond Dublin’s folk aficionados to the international stage. Outstanding reviews put I Would Not Live Always on many best-of-the-year lists.
“I’m overwhelmed by the response,” says Flynn, a member of band Skipper’s Alley and a regular at pub sessions. “Skipper’s Alley haven’t really had any success, so to get such a strong response from this album . . . I didn’t expect it at all. It’s a bit mad how it’s all happened.”
What mark out I Would Not Live Always as unique are both Flynn’s voice — mournful, deep, expressive — and the adventurous arrangements of songs by celebrated British folk authorities Shirley Collins and Ewan MacColl, alongside centuries-old ballads. Working with keyboards, drums, tape loops and Saileog Ní Cheannabháin, who performs sean-nós singing (unaccompanied traditional Irish vocal music), Flynn has made I Would Not Live Always intensely atmospheric, a challenging yet compelling listening experience. This is folk music rooted in tradition but alive to our time.
“It’s definitely a lockdown album,” says Flynn, who started recording it in early 2020. The enforced break gave time to think, and “when we returned to the studio, producer Brendan Jenkinson and I, we added loads and loads of different textures. I think that gave it a bit more of a contemporary edge.”
Flynn’s album has not shifted too far from Irish folk tradition, however: the instrumental “Tralee Gaol” is a simple dance number built around the tin whistle. And the keyboards, drums and loops are employed minimally — this is not a folk singer trying to sound like a rock or pop artist. More than anything, it’s the intensity of Flynn’s voice that captivates.
Having grown up in a household where everyone played Irish trad music, Flynn mastered several instruments at a young age but only started singing aged 19. “That I have a big voice, well, I imagine this might be from singing sessions in pubs: we have this great tradition in Ireland where anyone can join a session and play or sing but, the thing is, you have to learn to sing loud as the pub is a pub.”
Flynn is signed to River Lea, the folk offshoot label of Rough Trade and foremost champion of the contemporary Irish scene. “People have talked about the ‘folk resurgence’ here,” says Flynn, “and I agree that, right now, traditional music is enjoying a broader appeal. But I grew up with trad music and there’s always been a scene, whether the media and wider audiences are aware of it or not.” Read More…
