Johnny Flynn
Since first appearing in the latter half of the 2000s, English singer/songwriter Johnny Flynn has successfully navigated dueling careers as a folk-rock luminary and an in-demand actor across film, television, and theater. Occasionally, his two disciplines merge, as with his popular theme song to the beloved BBC Four series Detectorists and his portrayal of David Bowie in the 2020 film Stardust. Neither a singer who acts nor an actor who sings, he is the rare Renaissance artist equally adept and respected in both of his chosen fields. Since debuting with the acclaimed 2008 album A Larum, Flynn and his longtime band the Sussex Wit have amassed an artful catalog of releases that combine poetic, almost Shakespearian lyricism with English and American folk traditions and a driving electric sound. Flynn's albums have consistently charted in the U.K. Top 100, with standouts like 2013's Country Mile and 2017's Sillion adding new layers to his distinctive sound. After several years devoted primarily to acting, he collaborated with celebrated nature writer Robert MacFarlane on a pair of albums, 2021's Lost in the Cedar Wood and 2023's The Moon Also Rises.
Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, Flynn moved to England at the age of two and has been active in the arts since his childhood. A pair of music scholarships guided his early schooling, and in addition to playing violin, trumpet, and guitar, he also sang in the choir. He later nurtured his acting abilities at London's Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art. Despite his classical training, Flynn had a deep fondness for folk and blues music and developed a rugged and propulsive fingerstyle that has become a staple of his dynamic approach.
His professional career as an actor preceded his musical rise, but after a few years of television roles and Shakespearian theater, he earned a record contract with the Vertigo label and recorded 2008's A Larum. Backed by his group the Sussex Wit (which also includes his sister Lillie Flynn), the album was a significant critical success and earned favorable comparisons to classic U.K. folk-rock like Fairport Convention and Bert Jansch. An EP followed in 2009 as Flynn became associated with the rise of indie folk and specifically Britain's nu-folk revival, touring alongside acts like Laura Marling and Mumford & Sons. In truth, his music was more nuanced and layered than much of what the scene produced, and over subsequent albums like 2010's Been Listening and 2013's Country Mile (both released on the Transgressive label), he outlasted the tag. During this period, he and the band also composed the score of the 2011 indie film A Bag of Hammers.
While starring in the romantic comedy series Lovesick, Flynn was given the opportunity to contribute the theme song to another television program, BBC Four's gentle comedy Detectorists. His poignant theme song proved to be one of his most popular tracks and elevated his musical status in advance of 2017's excellent Sillion. Shifting back to acting, Flynn took on a number of period pieces including roles in a serial version of Vanity Fair and a film adaptation of Emma. He also starred as David Bowie in 2020's Stardust, a biopic focused on Bowie's pre-Ziggy Stardust period.
For his next album, Flynn and acclaimed nature writer Robert MacFarlane collaborated on a set of original songs. Released in early 2021, the resulting Lost in the Cedar Wood was one of Flynn's loosest and most intense recordings. Later that year, he composed the noir-themed score to the heist film The Score, in which he also starred. Meanwhile, he and MacFarlane continued their songwriting collaboration and readied a second album, The Moon Also Rises, which saw release in 2023.
© Timothy Monger /TiVo
Similar artists
-
Ten Degrees of Strange
Johnny Flynn, Robert Macfarlane
Pop - Released by Transgressive Records on 20 Apr 2021
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Barleycorn
Alternative & Indie - Released by Transgressive Records on 17 Mar 2017
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Raising the Dead
Alternative & Indie - Released by Transgressive Records on 13 Jan 2017
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Lady is Risen
Rock - Released by Transgressive on 29 Jul 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Home & Dry (For the Fishing Industry Safety Group)
Rock - Released by Transgressive Records on 7 Jul 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
In April (From "Song One) [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]
Folk - Released by Lakeshore Records on 2 Dec 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Cold Bread (Live at the Roundhouse)
Alternative & Indie - Released by Transgressive Records on 11 Dec 2018
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Gods and Monsters
Johnny Flynn, Robert Macfarlane
Pop - Released by Transgressive Records on 31 Mar 2021
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
"In April" Single from Song One (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) - Single
Film Soundtracks - Released by Lakeshore Records on 2 Dec 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Barnacled Warship
Alternative & Indie - Released by Transgressive on 16 Aug 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Night My Piano Upped and Died (Live at the Roundhouse)
Alternative & Indie - Released by Transgressive Records on 3 Oct 2018
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Lost and Found (Live at the Roundhouse)
Alternative & Indie - Released by Transgressive Records on 30 Oct 2018
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brown Trout Blues (Live at the Roundhouse)
Alternative & Indie - Released by Transgressive Records on 30 Nov 2018
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Heart Sunk Hank
Alternative & Indie - Released by Transgressive Records on 10 Feb 2017
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Johnny Flynn Presents: ‘The Score’ (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Alternative & Indie - Released by EMI on 2 Sep 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Kentucky Pill
Alternative & Indie - Released by Transgressive on 31 May 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Fol-De-Rol (live At The Roundhouse)
Alternative & Indie - Released by Transgressive Records on 8 Jan 2019
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Through The Misty With You (From “The Score”)
Alternative & Indie - Released by EMI on 5 Aug 2022
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
In the Deepest
Alternative & Indie - Released by Transgressive Records on 3 May 2017
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Wandering Aengus
Alternative & Indie - Released by Transgressive Records on 9 Mar 2017
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Country Mile (Krono Remix)
Electronic - Released by Transgressive on 10 May 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo