Johnny Flynn’s first two albums cemented the UK troubadour as one of the premiere talents in Britain, landing him praise from Rolling Stone’s David Fricke, spots on NPR’s All Things Considered and World Café and sold out tours all over the world. On September 30th via Transgressive Records, he will return with his third LP, ‘Country Mile,’ and hit the road with Mumford & Sons on select dates before launching a full US headlining tour (itinerary to be announced imminently).
Flynn and long-time collaborator Adam Beach (The Sussex Wit) chose a very different process to the workmanlike process of recording previous albums. They produced it themselves, recording in a number of different studios, in New York and London over the last two years. The theme for the album is one of journeying, with the way as a teacher: a ‘Country Mile’ being an indefinite distance. The allegory is a through line for the record with each song making up the different elements of a life seen as one journey.
The title and opening track “Country Mile” sets up the idea of striking out and taking off: “…nose to the road and I’m painfully free.” “After Eliot,” which is loosely inspired by T.S Eliot, mourns a misencounter, a reflection on a relationship where the two people didn’t see the same thing happening at the same time. “The Lady Is Risen,” the first single, sees Flynn muse on the idea of divine love and its influence on relationships, a sentiment Flynn feels strongly connected to. The music for the song was written years apart from the lyrics and references old Southern soul records.
Johnny is also an accomplished actor; he’s acted in Twelfth Night and Richard III at Shakespeare’s Globe Theater in London, as well as plays such as Jerusalem, The Heretic and The Low Road. In 2014, he’ll be co-starring alongside Anne Hathaway in a new feature film entitled ‘Song One’.
‘Country Mile’ tracklist:
1) Country Mile
2) After Eliot
3) The Lady Is Risen
4) Murmuration
5) Gypsy Hymn
6) Fol-de-rol
7) Einstein’s Idea
8. Tinker’s Trail
9) Bottom of the Sea Blues
10) Time Unremembered
JOHNNY FLYNN & THE SUSSEX WIT U.S. DATES with Mumford & Sons:
Mon 16th September – New Orleans LA Mardi Gras World (w/ Mumford & Sons)
Tues 17th September – Woodlands TX Cynthia Woods Pavilion (w/ Mumford & Sons)
Weds 18th September – Dallas TX GEXA Energy Pavilion (w/ Mumford & Sons)
Fri 20th September – Bonner Springs KS Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre (w/ Mumford & Sons)
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