Ian Flanigan’s one-of-a-kind tenor voice brought him to the national stage for Season 19 of The Voice, teaming up with show mentor Blake Shelton and earning his place as a runner-up in the season’s finale. Aside from his moment gaining national attention, he maintains momentum and energy in bringing his music around the county and producing new music.
Though the country singer-songwriter has been making his career out of Nashville for several years now, he calls the Hudson Valley his hometown, having grown up in the area.
Flanigan is teaming up with Randall Fowler and fellow Season 19 contestant Jim Ranger for the Southbound Writers Round Tour and headliner The Record Company for a mini festival benefiting the Hope Rocks organization happening this Saturday, July 19 at Lark Hall in Albany. Leading up to his performance, Flanigan spoke with NYS Music’s Steve Malinski for an interview first broadcast on WRPI in Troy. In addition to his journeys, Flanigan also gets personal discussing his latest and second studio album The Man My Momma Raised Me To Be and what it means to him, and the mission of the Hope Rocks organization benefiting mental health and addiction recovery for musicians.
Steve Malinski: I first learned about you back in 2019. You were playing the Woodstock 50th Anniversary, at a side pavilion there at Bethel Woods.
Ian Flanigan: Yeah, man. Definitely. That’s awesome. That was a great time.
SM: Yeah. And I kinda fell in love with your sound there. I’m typically not a country fan, but you bring a different flavor to it that is definitely more appealing than the typical popular country that I’m used to expecting to hear.
IF: Oh, thanks, man. Yeah. My stuff is all over the place. So country is kind of the foundation I choose because of the style of songwriting, but you never know which way it’s gonna go. But thank you, brother.
SM: Yeah. Definitely. You’ve been playing and performing for over a decade now. But how did you discover this type of music, and how did you fall in love with it and decide to do something with it?
IF: I’m from Saugerties, New York, right next to Woodstock and up by you guys too. I’ve lived in Watervliet. I’ve lived everywhere, but we have such a strong music scene. There are so many local, amazing artists, whether it’s folk — huge history in folk out here or up there — rock, metal, I mean, jam bands. Everything’s kinda up there, and it’s just this beautiful little mesh melting pot. And for me, I was in the folk world, and my songwriting style was always just really based there, the song first, you know? And as I started traveling as a young guy and playing things like Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, which is up in New York, and then Kerrville Folk Festival in Dripping Springs out in Texas. And, you know, doing that, I kinda came to this conclusion in life that country music — more traditional — is really just folk music with a band. You know? So I started picking up, my bands were with pedal steel and fiddles and banjos and just kinda let everybody else put me in whatever box they want. I’m just making art. Really coming from Upstate New York, there’s a lot of support and a lot of art.
SM: Awesome. So you’ve obviously had a big event in your career that happened around 2019–2020. So how did your experience, being a runner-up and finalist on The Voice change your outlook on music performance, aside from just giving you this national stage that you otherwise may not have had?
IF: Sure. I mean, you know, there’s so much of luck in kind of preparation meeting timing that happens to be on those television shows. And really, when I went on, I was such a diehard purist songwriter where I was like, I don’t sing other music because I didn’t write it. And I have a baritone raspy voice. It’s like, I can’t sing Journey or, you know, “Bohemian Rhapsody.” If I sing it, it just loses all the essence of it. So for me, I just never really did covers, and that show really opened up my mind into rearranging and making songs your own. And as a writer, that show kinda taught me, like, oh, you know, all these big artists, they’re not even — they’re not writing these songs. It’s kinda like the best song wins, and you gotta split yourself from being the artist and the writer to being an entertainer and somebody that wants to do live shows and make people feel good. And that side of it — it’s really a best song wins. You know? And that’s where my mind grew the most, where I was like, you know what? I’m bringing out a story and a message to try to help people feel good, get better, or just feel like they’re seen. And that show really did that for me. I was so stuck in my head, and I really needed to grow. And that show kinda forced me right into growing.
SM: So more like you no longer have a cookbook you’re trying to follow. You’re just trying to organically go with the industry and kind of what people are kinda looking to hear, I suppose.
IF: Yeah. Somewhat. And also, just as a student of music or life, you know, I didn’t realize how much I was closing myself off to learning and absorbing all this great art around me because I hadn’t made it. So for me, it was just more of like a lesson as an artist. And now as an artist in the industry, it helps me kinda think from a third-person perspective. I think with, like, social media and the way this world works when you’re trying to be an entrepreneur, you’re always thinking of what can come out of me in my head. But really, a lot of the job — the more important part of the job — is what do people want to experience and how can I be a part of that?
SM: Yeah. So your new album that came out recently, you have a lot of personal thoughts and lyrics on it. Do you find it a struggle to balance making sure that it’s still your own creation while collaborating to deliver the final product that we hear and enjoy?
IF: Sometimes. Oh, sure. I mean, I’m a songwriter down in Nashville. So this past year, I had so many ups and downs in my personal life. And this album, I was fortunate enough to be able to keep pretty much under my direction and my producer, Jon Stone. But there’s also probably 50 songs written that year that just aren’t gonna exist necessarily in my catalog. And the other thing I do is I write for a lot of different projects other than myself and different genres, and that kinda helps me just feel like I’m being able to get all the art out of myself and not really hold on to that so much. So when this record came, it was a really big challenge to work with such a band that was so much further than me musically. It was really fun. Pushed me to kinda rein it in and also help drive the car. So you really just go with it, and I’m very proud of what the guys and I were able to make.
SM: Awesome. Yeah. And I also heard, caught my attention when I was listening to it this morning — you have a version of Tina Turner’s “What’s Love Got to Do With It.” So how did you come across wanting to try to talk the band and the producer into doing that?
IF: Oh, that was easy. Tina — we’re all huge Tina fans. And my producer, Jon, and I had been playing with this arrangement for, I don’t know, months. We would always play it out live, and we had a little bit of extra time at the end of one of our last sessions, and we just tossed it to the guys. We’re like, let’s get in here and do it. And we just kinda walked away with what you hear. It’s like this interesting, folky, country version of an amazing power ballad by Tina that I am just attempting to get through. But we had Lenesha Randolph sing with me on it, and she’s just such an amazing artist. She’s just a total, total, really. So she kinda helped me carry it through. But otherwise, we had a great time, man. Band is second to none. They mostly play with Robert Randolph. We had Gordon Mote on keys, Jerry McPherson on guitar. Really, you could just kinda go in, and they’re gonna know exactly what to do within about three minutes.
SM: Yeah. Good mix of talent to absorb from there.
IF: Oh, yeah.
SM: Yeah, congratulations on the album. I love the sound of it, it was very well done.
IF: I appreciate it, man. I’m always grateful to just be making music. You know?
SM: Yeah. And I guess between this album and other songs you’ve written, are there any songs in particular that you’re extra proud of or endearing of?
IF: Yeah. Sure. I mean, I’ll give you two. There’s a lot that I’m personally connected to. Like, the title track, “The Man My Mama Raised,” was really, really personal to me. And, you know, for me, it’s really about — I lost my mother a little over a year and a half ago.
SM: Oh, sorry to hear that.
IF: Yeah. It’s one of those things. Thank you. But, you know, it’s one of those things. It’s inevitable. It’s probably the biggest tragedy you’re ever gonna experience until, I guess, you find another. But she was such an angel on this planet that I wanted to kind of encapsulate a few different feelings I had for her. And one of them was she always had this high bar and never turned her back on me even when I was kinda going down the wrong path in life. And so the whole meaning of that song is just, you know, you’re not there yet, but I’m gonna keep trying to become the man I know that she is trying to raise, and that pursuit is what that song’s about. And the other song that I’m really proud about off that record is “Words I Never Heard an Old Man Say.” I love that song. I wrote it with my producer, Jon Stone, in about an hour, and you just don’t really get these awkwardly kind of unique turns in songs. Like, as a writer, you’re always trying to say something that you haven’t heard before because it’s an ocean of everybody having already said the clever thing. They’ve already talked — you know, there’s no more lines about whiskey. There’s no more neon. There’s no more country stuff that I’m trying to pursue because it’s all been done. But that’s one song that I feel like the majority of it has never been written in that way. So I was very proud to do that with John.
SM: That’s awesome to hear. Yeah. And kinda going into the personal side of things, your show coming up Saturday night at Lark Hall in Albany, it’s part of an event with the Hope Rocks organization, which you’re on the board of. And it looks like you’ve done a handful of shows supporting this, and there’s other organizations that have come in and done events in the community. So for this one where you’re, in a sense, the songwriters are doing an opening segment for the Record Company — what’s the Hope Rocks Foundation all about? And what’s this show about in particular for benefiting mental health and substance recovery?
IF: Hope Rocks is one of the most awesome things going because it’s one of the only music related organizations that is all about destigmatizing, like, mental illness, isolation, addiction. And, really, what it is is it’s a gathering around music, but really to spread awareness and kind of just build and bring community out to the people that need it the most. You know? It is a huge thing that is all over the world. Just people are suffering, and a lot of what that is is that they’re isolated. You know? They don’t have a community, and they don’t have any kinda outreach or the knowledge or the tools to kind of take that next step. And for people in active addiction, you know, that window to get get help, that could be, like, thirty minutes. You know? It could be less. You know? You you don’t stay in it for, like, a week or two. You’re usually, it’s pretty fleeting.
You know, for me myself, I’m alcohol free now for over ten years, and I do remember a time where it felt impossible. And that’s that’s the whole reason why I take it so seriously because I got caught up in it. And once you’re in recovery, you’re you always are. You know? But my thing is just how can I be any part of something bigger than myself and just try to bring a little bit of hope to somebody or at least be a part of a community that helps get one like, if the whole thing got one person healthy or one person to find a way that maybe they save their lives? The whole thing’s worth it. So, like, these kind of shows, they’re not just, you know, they’re not just one night. You never know the kind of impact you’re being a part of when you come out to one.
SM: Right. And even if you have even when you have that impact on one person, that can from there, you know, split and kinda like they can pass that on.
IF: 100%, man. And that that is the entire goal of this. You know? Whether whether it happens Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, it’s it’s more it’s the mission. You know? That’s what we’re here for. We’re we’re trying to get good people, like minded people, and spread the message. And, you know, you you’re gonna hear some, testimonies there. You’re gonna you’re gonna see a lot of love, a lot of great music, and a lot of people coming together. So it’s it’s a really cool thing, man.
SM: So the the Southbound Writers Round tour is what you’re you’re calling this this musical event. Have you, worked with Jim Ranger and Randall Fowler before before?
IF: Yeah. Jim and I were on The Voice together. He beat me. I usually this is where I say that, he got second and I got third, and I usually say something in jest like he cheated, but he didn’t. He’s just really good. But, you know, we lived in a hotel together out in Hollywood for, like, half a year or six months. So we became really, really great best friends, and and we’ve been on a two week tour this year already with Randall, who is just a a he’s a phenomenal artist, man. There’s not many writers or singers like him out there, like both those guys. Randall Fowler, Jim Ranger. We got in a van, and we were like, let’s see what happens. And we were just, you know, hit it off. These guys are phenomenal. And and one of the things we do in Nashville is writers rounds. You know, there’s so many amazing writers out here that it’s very every night, there’s multiple every night where you go out and you see a bunch of writers, three or four, and it’s all about the story behind the song.
It’s all about the artist and, like, what was going on, when it was written, what it’s about, and then the version of the writer. You know? And Randall’s got a lot of cuts for other artists, and and that’s kind of, one of the fun parts of the show. So we we’ve been trying to bring that to the Northeast and across the country a little bit more.
SM: Awesome. So it sounds like it’s, take turns, sharing songs.
IF: Yeah. We’ll be on the stage same time, the three of us. We kinda just go one, two, three round robin style, and, you know, we sing on each other’s stuff, jam on each other’s stuff. And it’s just, it’s just a lot of fun. And we each travel with our own bands individually, but this is a way that we can kind of, you know, talk, tell stories. And something like Hope Rocks is very personal. So we just wanna have a intimate, really cool night.
SM: Yeah. And those, those song swap sessions are a lot of fun. I’ve seen those a handful of times at Clearwater on the folk music scene. And Yeah. You get a lot of, you know, unscripted things going on. So sounds like it’s gonna be a lot of fun.
So lastly, since, you know, we’re both from the Hudson Valley area, any particular favorite venues you’ve performed at local dives or other special places? No.
IF: Well, you know, obviously, Hope Rocks has brought me to a lot of good people. If I was to kinda work work my way down, I mean, I am excited to be at Lark Hall. I always love the colony in Woodstock, Bearsville Theater, Helsinki in Hudson…. Saugerties, I used to play there obviously all the time, but we would do a lot of pop up shows and and throw throw our own parties. But, man, there’s just so many. I also love, where I can’t even remember the name. It’s, like, way out past Phoenicia. I don’t know. I’ve been all over the place out there. But, you know, the best part about that area is people seem to just throw amazing shows randomly anywhere and just altogether. It’s really about the lineup for me.
SM: Alright. Awesome. So the show is Saturday night at Lark Hall in Albany, and people can get tickets through the venue’s website. I’m hoping a lot of people out there can make it and, you know, learn about Hope Rocks and spread some good words and enjoy some excellent music.
IF: Come on out. Get a ticket. We’re gonna hang out, man. I hope to get to see you in the future, brother, because I appreciate you taking the time and helping us spread the word. So thank you.
SM: Yeah. Thanks a lot for joining us.
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