Singer-songwriter John Flynn’s video for his new single, “Kris’s Rules,” premieres via Americana Highways. The sonic heartfelt response to news about the 2024 passing of his longtime hero and friend Kris Kristofferson features lyrics that include Kristofferson's own prescription for making the most of this one and only life. Americana Highways cheers, “Ironically, this co-write with Kris Kristofferson is a song asking a dearly departed friend for advice, and the loving response: ‘tell the truth, sing with passion, work with laughter, love with heart.’ Gently played, it pierces deeply and moves thoroughly. The footage all brings the point into clearer focus.”
“Kris Kristofferson will remain a hero to anyone who ever strapped on a guitar and tried to tell the truth,”says Flynn. “It was one of the great privileges of my life to call him a friend, and a tremendous honor to be given the chance to place my name next to his as a cowriter of this song.”
For the chorus of "Kris's Rules," John received permission from Lisa Kristofferson, Kris’s wife of 41 years, to include Kris's mantra: “Tell the truth. Sing with passion. Work with laughter. Love with heart”. After hearing an early mix of “Kris’s Rules,” Lisa suggested that John add Kris’s name as a cowriter of the song. John counts seeing his name next to Kristofferson’s on the lyrics of “Kris’s Rules” one of the biggest honors of his career.
“Kris’s Rules” was produced and mixed by Harvey (better known in Philadelphia as on air-personality, Harvey in the Morning) at Barndance Productions in Wallingford, PA. A multi-instrumentalist as well, Harvey also plays most of the additional instruments supporting Flynn’s plaintive vocals and guitar on the track. “Kris’s Rules” will also be included on Flynn’s forthcoming album Kindred Spirits due this summer.
In addition to his career as a songwriter and performer, John is the Executive Director of the non-profit, New Beginnings-Next Step and is celebrating the 20th anniversary of his weekly visits and still growing work with those inside Delaware prisons. New Beginnings-Next Step organizes and runs peer support groups both inside and outside of prison to help members build resilience by establishing relationships of trust and deep connection to community.
Flynn will perform at, as well as MC, the Philadelphia Folk Festival in August before he heads to Norway for their Protest Festival in mid-September. He will then return to his current home state of Delaware for a benefit show for New Beginnings-Next Step at the Arden Concert Gild in late September.
John Flynn originally met Kris Kristofferson in 1983 through longtime Kristofferson friend and band member Billy Swan (I Can Help). Billy was the first artist to ever cover a Flynn tune and had just released John’s song “Rainbows and Butterflies” as a single on Epic Records when he introduced Kris to Flynn backstage at the Grand Opera House in Wilmington, Delaware. Flynn was later asked to interview Kristofferson for a cover story in Songwriter’s Monthly magazine. The interview led to an invitation to send some Flynn CDs to the Kristofferson home in Hana, Hawaii.
Kris wrote the liner notes for Flynn’s next album and sang on several of John’s subsequent releases. Indeed in an interview with Readers Digest (c. 2003) Kristofferson listed Flynn as one of his favorite new artists. Kris even recited the lyrics to Flynn’s heartbreaking song “Without You with Me” at his dear friend Stephen Bruton’s funeral.
Due to the song “Kris’s Rules,” Flynn has now been asked to perform at the 2025 Protest Festival in Kristiansand, Norway. Kristofferson was a major supporter of the Protest Festival, and to honor Kris’s passing Festival Director Svein Inge Olsen had decided to make “Tell the truth. Sing with passion. Work with laughter. Love with heart.” the motto of this year’s gathering. Olsen discovered Flynn’s lyric’s online and dug deeper into Flynn’s relationship with Kristofferson as well as Flynn’s own career as an activist and songwriter. Olsen has called “Kris’s Rules,” “beautiful, honest and heartbreaking" John will perform on the Protest Festival’s opening night on September 15th. He uses his music as a platform to raise funds for the weekly assistance given to returning citizens through New Beginnings-Next Step.
John Flynn is a Delaware-based singer-songwriter who unapologetically offers up shining songs of hope from a heart that has been sculpted by decades of standing at the margins with "the lost and the lonely, the shackled and scarred." Deana McCloud, a prior Executive Director of the Woody Guthrie Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma called him "the real deal," saying, "His work follows in the footsteps of Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Kris Kristofferson, and other social justice troubadours as he speaks the truth and gives a voice to society's disenfranchised.”
John is also the founder and Executive Director of New Beginnings-Next Step, Inc., a non-profit that works with incarcerated and returning citizens to help them build the resilience necessary to surmount the challenges of prison and reentry.
Flynn has received the Phil Ochs Award, the Dominicans’ Shining Star Award, Pacem in Terris’s Peacemaker Award, as well as honors from the Vietnam Veterans of America, the American Library Association and the Grammys. John has also been honored with the Champion of Justice/Humanitarian Award from the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. Past winners include Stevie Wonder, Janet Reno, Julian Bond, and Sister Helen Prejean.
Flynn has recently been named the permanent host of the storied Philadelphia Folk Festival and will return to their main stage this August for the 62nd annual event.
Don't Miss John Flynn Live!
June 26 Bellevue State Park, Concerts Under the Stars Wilmington, DE
May 31 6 On The Square Oxford, NY
July 11 Singing Oaks Concerts Cape Cod, MA
August 15-18 Philadelphia Folk Fest Upper Salford Twp, PA
Sept 15-16 Protest Fest Kristiansand, Norway
Sept 27 Arden Gild Concert Hall Wilmington, DE
October 18 Fundraising Concert for Dimas Of Vermont Hartford, VT
Dec 4 Lansdowne Folk Club Lansdowne, PA
