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" Folk music - and what people are now perceiving as being folk music - is music that's quite close to the ground. The songs sound quite old, even if they're new. They sound like they've been sung by different people for years. "

Johnny Flynn

Now

Music

New

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" I grew up playing classical violin and a lot of Bach and Mozart and the things that Einstein loved. "

Johnny Flynn

Playing

Things

" I always love going to New York. "

" The thing I find really special in performance is that there is this slightly mystical thing that takes over when you're responding to a crowd and engaging in people's imaginations collectively in a room. I've always thought that one of the most incredible things about being alive is going to see some kind of performance like that. "

" It's great to be able to write songs and draw on life, to write truthfully, and to be able to do that, it's good to be exploring other stuff as well. "

" I fell in love with the legend of Paul Robeson as a kid. My dad would tell me all these amazing stories about his life and, bizarrely, ended up singing to Robeson on his deathbed. "

" I definitely asked too many questions of my teachers and was probably a bit facetious at times. "

" I sometimes self-edit when it comes to auditions and go, 'They're not going to cast me, so I'm not going to do it.' "

Johnny Flynn

Going

Sometimes

" It's not in the mainstream media, but across towns, it is amazing how there are small groups of people getting together and forming artistic collectives - they may not be being overtly political, but I'd say by channelling their energy into community projects, that's a valid political statement. "

" I'm not that politically educated. "

Johnny Flynn

Educated

Politically

" Loads of verses don't make it into the finished song. "

" I find it hugely exciting to be dealing with another writer's language. "

" I'm not really interested in myself in my writing. I can't see myself in the songs, even though I know different parts of me are there. "

Johnny Flynn

Writing

Songs

" Music always gets bumped until I have some time to get around to it. "

" I did a lot of theater as a young actor in my early twenties, and my first few records really came from writing songs through the rehearsal processes. "

" Bob Dylan has and Einstein had their own way of perceiving the universe and translating it for us. "

" My guitar is a 1934 National Trojan. They call it a resonator, which is the guitar guys played in the honky-tonks before amplification. It's very loud. It's the type of guitar that Son House and Robert Johnson played. "

" I can't remember a 'best gig,' and my brain doesn't work in absolute terms like that. "

Johnny Flynn

Best

Brain

" The reason I stopped music for a while and concentrated on theatre was that it was more conducive to parenting; having the days free was quite handy. I love them both. I hope I don't have to compromise one for the other. "

" Certain films should only be watched at 40,000 feet. Like, certain comedies and certain, uh, emotionally charged movies. "

" I imagine that, for most people, acting isn't something they think is a viable option, whereas for me, it was the most viable option. No adults around me knew how to do anything else. "

Johnny Flynn

Think

Most

" I'm not a fan of taking too long in the studio. I always do one vocal take and jump out of the control room, and people push me back in... It's a real turn-off to hear things that are too polished. I feel like I've almost fought for the right to be that kind of musician - we used to be on a major label, and now we're on an indie. "

Johnny Flynn

Control

Long

" I'm married to the girl that I first went out with when I was 16. We were on and off for years; now we're married with a kid, so I don't have that many exes. "

" I actually do bits of my writing in sort of incidental spaces - when I'm traveling on the Tube or on a bus. More often than not, it's a reaction to how you feel about something, and if you're sitting down and concentrating on, 'I must write something,' then you can't have a truthful reaction. "

" My dad was an actor, and he made it all seem quite magical. It felt like a slightly subversive thing, telling stories, when all of my other friends' parents were builders or bank clerks. It's always seemed quite magical to me. "

" I try and stay in my right brain as much as I can, but my left takes over. "

" My dad was working class. "

" The pop industry is so well-practised at channelling young people's creative energy that I think it gets abused. "

" Weirdly, my dad didn't want me to become an actor, he was always quite resistant to it. He told me as much many times. That just made it more attractive to me. "

Johnny Flynn

Actor

Always

" I take them both seriously - I don't particularly want to be an 'actor-musician.' I want to play the great challenging parts, to be right for the part, rather than just, 'Oh, he can play the fiddle.' "

Johnny Flynn

Seriously

Want

" You might as well acknowledge what came before, because you can never do something wholly new. It's not unoriginal to make your references clear. "