Johnny Flynn and the Sussex Wit: Leftovers
[purchase]
A taste, ironically, of what is to come...
Leftovers is what I want
Don't need no fine cuisine
Give me a dime for bacon rind
Or slip me some of that old sardine...
I was introduced to London-based Johnny Flynn via two geographically disparate music blogs: the ever-excellent UK-based Song, By Toad, which covers the best of the new and burgeoning britfolk movement, and the sadly-defunct To The Dogs...or Whatever, which was based out of Australia. I haven't seen him mentioned much elsewhere, but I'm happy to do my part to spread the word about this stellar artist with an eye to the past, especially because, as a coverblogger, I would do almost anything to be able to be in London this Monday to attend the upcoming tribute to long-gone Fairport Convention singer Sandy Denny, which will also feature Martin Carthy and other members of the UK neotrad scene.
Flynn's MySpace page claims Country/Blues/Folk in that order, which will probably make more sense to ears from that side of the pond more than it does to my own: his work with and without the Sussex Wit isn't what most Americans consider folk, but then, Americans tend to forget that they didn't invent the stuff. The fiddles and Pogues-gone-acoustic arrangement of Leftovers, which frames the image as metaphor for a self-depreciating girl on the rebound, are indeed a stellar example of what counts for folk in the rest of the English speaking world, and much of his other work calls back to various slices of the pubfolk and tradfolk traditions. Shades of the Kinks in there, too. Great stuff, and - lest we forget - as rooted in the British past as the Pilgrims themselves.
Our coming week's theme will be Leftovers; our intrepid contributors will be posting songs which fit previous themes here at Star Maker Machine. This song would have fit in several previous themes, including Johns and The Bountiful Feast.
