Taking someone else's language and fitting it into your own speech - you learn a lot about other people's brains, doing that.
— Johnny Flynn
When I first moved to London, there was talk of a folk revival, with annoying names like nu-folk that made me feel slightly ill.
I'm not that politically educated.
My father was an actor. Both of my older brothers are actors. My younger sister is an actress. For me, that's my job; that's my craft. But then all through school and through drama school, I was gigging and running nights and playing in bands, and I just didn't want to let that go.
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.'
We had no money, my dad was out of work a lot, and we never owned a house. It was very hand-to-mouth.
The world that I know and the world that I come from is from the arts, and my wife's an artist, and I've been a musician since I left college, and there's tons of musicians I'd love to play.
I've been cast in a lot of comedies. I've done things like multi-cam sitcoms: you know, 'Seinfeld' type... not as good as 'Seinfeld,' but that kind of thing. I love that stuff.
Music always gets bumped until I have some time to get around to it.
I'm not a funny person.
I'm obsessed with pilgrimages. I love following old routes, imagining the consciousness of those who walked them.
I'm a big Bob Dylan fan. I'm also a blues geek.
It's interesting to marry American musical traditions with the subtlety of English-style storytelling and folk singer-songwriters like Martin Carthy and Bert Jansch - they're two heritages that are distinct but also cross over on so many levels.
The truth is there's always a hum of people playing folk music in cities.
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've always identified as an actor. That's what I set out to do.
I like getting older. I always looked younger than I was, and I found that people wouldn't give me the room to speak. The older I get, it's like, 'Oh, I'm still talking, and they're still listening.'
I try and stay in my right brain as much as I can, but my left takes over.
Bob Dylan has and Einstein had their own way of perceiving the universe and translating it for us.
There's something amazing about 'Fawlty Towers' and 'The Office' only being two series. I think, when you really nail it, you don't need to do more than two or three.
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.
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.
I have a classical music background. I studied violin and trumpet.
All the adults in my family were actors, so there wasn't much else in terms of role models. I fell in love with that world, being backstage at the theatre.
Westminster politics is very unattractive, and people are channelling political energy into more inward questioning - there are a lot of musicians whose songs are all about feeling, and it's almost like that's the only safe place to express yourself.
The pop industry is so well-practised at channelling young people's creative energy that I think it gets abused.
It's great being an actor and being part of a play or a film where there's usually quite a big group of people who are collaborating, and your job is really to fit in and share that energy. With music, because I write the songs, it's a broader, more abstract process.
The moment you have children, it's like your heart gets out of your body, puts on clothes, and walks away.
I'm a huge David Hockney fan.
Certain films should only be watched at 40,000 feet. Like, certain comedies and certain, uh, emotionally charged movies.
I think Bob Odenkirk is phenomenal.
I grew up playing classical violin and a lot of Bach and Mozart and the things that Einstein loved.
My dad was working class.
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.
