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Johnny Flynn "Breaks Into" the US
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JOHNNY Flynn makes the sort of London-tinged Americana that you would think would be a hit with the folks in the States.
Already making waves over here, the 24-year old has just signed to Lost Highway in America, home to Johnny Cash, Ryan Adams and Van Morrison, making him the first UK artist to sign to the label.
But the Johannesburg-born singer says he had some hairy moments when he flew to the US to play the prestigious SXSW festival.
"We didn't have any visas or anything," he says. "We went over without instruments so we didn't get spotted by immigration. It's not really working, because you don't get paid, but sometimes they get a bit funny.
"So we went over and hired all these strange instruments that we weren't used to. We all had these stories in case they asked us what we were doing, like, I'm a painter... no, no, I'm a... hang on...' "It's really nerve wracking. We were behind another band who didn't have any visas either but they had all their instruments - they got through and we just completely went under the radar."
Johnny grew up in South Wales working on a fishing boat, before winning a singing scholarship to Winchester College.
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Never one to be tied down, he hung out in the New York anti-folk scene and the London folk-punk scene, and toured the world acting with a Shakespearian theatre company.
"I've got all sorts of projects," he says. "I'm just doing the music for a film, a short film called Wayfaring Stranger."
In addition is the single, Tickle Me Pink, which was released on Monday and which will be followed up next week by the album A Larum, which is already being praised for its "carousing brass and skewered fiddles", while the most common adjective to describe Flynn seems to be "charming".
Unsurprisingly he has supported folk sweetie Laura Marling on tour, but with the release of A Larum, perhaps it's time for Johnny Flynn to step into the limelight.
5/20/2008
