{"id":270564,"date":"2025-05-01T12:42:59","date_gmt":"2025-05-01T16:42:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/livemusicblog.com\/?p=270564"},"modified":"2025-05-16T16:18:09","modified_gmt":"2025-05-16T20:18:09","slug":"john-flynn-kriss-rules-tribute-kris-kristofferson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/livemusicblog.com\/folk\/folk-rock\/john-flynn-kriss-rules-tribute-kris-kristofferson\/","title":{"rendered":"John Flynn’s Tribute to Kris Kristofferson Premieres via Americana Highways"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Singer-songwriter\u00a0John Flynn’s\u00a0<\/strong>video for his new single,\u00a0“Kris’s Rules<\/strong>,“<\/strong>\u00a0premieres via\u00a0Americana Highways<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0 The sonic heartfelt response to news about the 2024 passing of his longtime hero and friend\u00a0Kris Kristofferson\u00a0<\/strong>features lyrics that include\u00a0Kristofferson’s<\/strong>\u00a0own\u00a0prescription\u00a0for 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.”
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\u00a0“Kris Kristofferson will remain a hero to anyone who ever strapped on a guitar and tried to tell the truth,”says\u00a0Flynn<\/strong>. “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.”
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For the chorus of “Kris’s Rules<\/strong>,”\u00a0John<\/strong>\u00a0received permission from\u00a0Lisa Kristofferson<\/strong>,\u00a0Kris’s<\/strong>\u00a0wife of 41 years, to include\u00a0Kris’s<\/strong>\u00a0mantra: “Tell the truth. Sing with passion. Work with laughter. Love with heart”.\u00a0 After hearing an early mix\u00a0of “Kris’s Rules,<\/strong>”\u00a0Lisa<\/strong>\u00a0suggested that\u00a0John<\/strong>\u00a0add\u00a0Kris’s<\/strong>\u00a0name as a cowriter of the song.\u00a0John<\/strong>\u00a0counts seeing his name next to\u00a0Kristofferson’s<\/strong>\u00a0on the lyrics of “Kris’s Rules<\/strong>” one of the biggest honors of his career.

“Kris’s Rules<\/strong>” was produced and mixed by\u00a0Harvey<\/strong>\u00a0(better known in Philadelphia as on air-personality,\u00a0Harvey in the Morning)<\/em>\u00a0at Barndance Productions in Wallingford, PA. A multi-instrumentalist as well,\u00a0Harvey<\/strong>\u00a0also plays most of the additional instruments supporting\u00a0Flynn’s\u00a0<\/strong>plaintive vocals and guitar on the track. “Kris’s Rules<\/strong>” will also be included on\u00a0Flynn’s<\/strong>\u00a0forthcoming album\u00a0Kindred Spirits<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0due this summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to his career as a songwriter and performer,\u00a0John<\/strong>\u00a0is the Executive Director of the non-profit,\u00a0New Beginnings-Next Step\u00a0and is celebrating\u00a0<\/strong>the 20th anniversary of his weekly visits and still growing work with those inside Delaware prisons.\u00a0\u00a0New Beginnings-Next Step<\/strong>\u00a0organizes and runs peer support groups both\u00a0inside and outside of prison\u00a0to help members build resilience\u00a0by establishing relationships of trust and deep connection to community.\u00a0

Flynn<\/strong>\u00a0will perform at,\u00a0as well as MC,\u00a0the Philadelphia Folk Festival in August before he heads to\u00a0Norway for their Protest Festival in mid-September.\u00a0He will then return to his current home state of Delaware for a benefit show for\u00a0New Beginnings-Next Step<\/strong>\u00a0at the Arden Concert Gild in late September.
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John Flynn<\/strong>\u00a0originally met\u00a0Kris Kristofferson<\/strong>\u00a0in 1983 through longtime\u00a0Kristofferson<\/strong>\u00a0friend and band member\u00a0Billy Swan<\/strong>\u00a0(I Can Help).\u00a0Billy<\/strong>\u00a0was the first artist to ever cover a\u00a0Flynn<\/strong>\u00a0tune and had just released\u00a0John’s<\/strong>\u00a0song “Rainbows and Butterflies” as a single on Epic Records when he introduced\u00a0Kris<\/strong>\u00a0to\u00a0Flynn<\/strong>\u00a0backstage at the Grand Opera House in Wilmington, Delaware.\u00a0Flynn<\/strong>\u00a0was later asked to interview Kristofferson for a cover story in\u00a0Songwriter’s Monthly<\/em>\u00a0magazine. The interview led\u00a0to an invitation to send some\u00a0Flynn<\/strong>\u00a0CDs to the\u00a0Kristofferson<\/strong>\u00a0home in Hana, Hawaii.\u00a0

Kris<\/strong>\u00a0wrote the liner notes for\u00a0Flynn’s<\/strong>\u00a0next album and sang on several of\u00a0John’s<\/strong>\u00a0subsequent releases. Indeed in an interview with\u00a0Readers Digest<\/em>\u00a0(c. 2003) Kristofferson listed Flynn as one of his favorite new artists.\u00a0Kris<\/strong>\u00a0even recited the lyrics to\u00a0Flynn’s<\/strong>\u00a0heartbreaking song “Without You with Me” at his dear friend Stephen Bruton’s funeral.

Due to\u00a0 the song “Kris’s Rules,<\/strong>”\u00a0Flynn<\/strong>\u00a0has now been asked to perform at the 2025 Protest Festival in Kristiansand, Norway.\u00a0Kristofferson<\/strong>\u00a0was a major supporter of the Protest Festival, and to honor\u00a0Kris’s<\/strong>\u00a0passing Festival Director Svein Inge Olsen had decided to make “Tell the truth. Sing with passion. Work with laughter. Love with heart.<\/strong>” the motto of this year’s gathering.\u00a0Olsen<\/strong>\u00a0discovered\u00a0Flynn’s<\/strong>\u00a0lyric’s online and dug deeper into\u00a0Flynn’s\u00a0<\/strong>relationship with\u00a0Kristofferson<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0as well as\u00a0Flynn’s<\/strong>\u00a0own career as an activist and songwriter.\u00a0Olsen<\/strong>\u00a0has called “Kris’s Rules<\/strong>,”\u00a0“beautiful, honest and heartbreaking”\u00a0John<\/strong>\u00a0will 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\u00a0New Beginnings-Next Step.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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About John Flynn<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

John Flynn<\/strong>\u00a0is 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\u00a0“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.”\u00a0

John<\/strong>\u00a0is 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<\/strong>\u00a0has 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.\u00a0John<\/strong>\u00a0has 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<\/strong>\u00a0has 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Experience John Flynn’s “Kris’s Rules” on YouTube:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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Kris's Rules<\/div><\/div>
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