Interview: Johnny Flynn on the lure of the great outdoors

A few weeks ago my favourite music website For Folk’s Sake asked me to have a chat with wandering folk minstrel, Johnny Flynn, about new album Country Mile. Here’s a snippet from the full interview on how Johnny finds inspiration in walking and the great outdoors (of course).

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‘Country Mile’, is named for the term for an indefinite distance, and the album loosely follows the allegory of a journey. Flynn cites the writing of Robert MacFarlane on the call of the great outdoors as a key influence.

“I like going off on walks on my own,” he tells me. “I have a yearning to be in nature – that’s how I feel I spent my childhood, and I’ve been looking back at that time a lot. I don’t feel at home in the city any more, especially since having a child. I’ve been going on these super long walks, and there’s something amazing about giving up the duties of daily life for a little while and just getting up each day and walking, that’s all you do.

I walked the Camino De Santiago, a pilgrimage route in Spain, a little while ago. I walked through the mountains alone and the experience completely blew my head off. MacFarlane writes about the benefits of rambling on ancient paths – your consciousness expands to include that of people of who have walked along that path before you.”

Johnny’s walking-inspired album, Country Mile, is out now.

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