Dubliner John Francis Flynn to play Vicar Street in May 2022

Dublin folk sensation John Francis Flynn is set to perform at Vicar Street on Sunday, May 1st 2022 alongside special guest Aoife Nessa Francis.

The news arrives fresh after a sold out show at Whelan's on Friday, 12th November and winning Best Emerging Folk Artist & Best Folk Singer at last night's RTÉ Radio One Folk Awards.

The singer and multi-instrumentalist crafts work centred around traditional and folk material from Ireland. He is a founding member of the band, Skipper’s Alley, with whom he has toured extensively throughout Europe and America. While supporting Lankum on their 2019 UK tour he caught the eye of Geoff Travis and Jeannette Lee who quickly signed John to Rough Trade imprint label, River Lea. River Lea released John’s debut album I Would Not Live Always in Spring 2021.

The record puts Flynn on the precipice of folk stardom. He’s achieved a nearly impossible balance, fusing his broad influences and improvisations with the lyrics of traditional and classic folk tunes he’s collected from Shirley Collins, Frank Harte, settled Traveller Paddy Quilligan, Ewan MacColl, and Stan Hugill.

“The songs have lasted this long by themselves,” he reflected to Hot Press recently. “They don’t need me to come along like, ‘Hey! Here’s some electronics to make them relevant.’ It’s just something I was interested in exploring. Ian Lynch of Lankum said the same thing, that he doesn’t see Lankum as a traditional band – even though most of their material is traditional. He would say it’s just music that draws from the traditional, and I suppose that’s what I feel I’ve done.”

Produced by highly regarded producer, Brendan Jenkinson, this release looks to continue where River Lea last left off; highlighting the enormous talent hidden away in the corners of Ireland’s folk scene.

“Brendan had never recorded something like it,” says Flynn. “We came in this time with the material he had never heard before, and he was like, ‘This is mad.It was a big lesson for us in how we would like to record in the future, in terms of pre-production. Brendan said we should go down the country for five days – just jam it out, so he could record everything and we could work out exactly what we’re going to do. It worked out, but it was a learning process.”

Tickets from €22.50 (including booking fee) on sale Friday 19th November at 10am.

Revisit John Francis Flynn's August 2021 interview with Hot Press here and the verdict on his brilliant debut album.