NEW ALBUMS
JOHN FRANCIS FLYNN
Young Dubliner brokers the ancient and modern on captivating debut.
By Rob Hughes
GEORGE VORONOV
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I Would Not Live Always RIVER LEA
8/10
THE first song that John Francis Flynn learnt to sing was “Come, Me Little Son”, from a version by The Dubliners’ Luke Kelly. Based around a Scottish air, it was initially written and recorded by Ewan MacColl for the BBC’s celebrated radio ballads series in the late ’50s. It’s tempting to speculate what the notoriously dogmatic MacColl would make of Flynn’s experimental approach to traditional music, but he’d surely struggle to deny its power.
The 31-year-old is the latest addition to River Lea, the folk imprint set up by Rough Trade to promote “beautiful and strange traditional music from Britain, Ireland and beyond”. Flynn has been a vital presence in Dublin’s young folk scene this past decade, both as frontman with Skipper’s Alley and as collaborator with the likes of Ye Vagabonds and Lankum. A well-received support slot on the latter’s 2019 UK tour brought him wider attention, though the idea of being what he calls “this professional musician” didn’t fully take hold until River Lea offered a deal.