Bio

Blake Shelton has described him as a “once-in-a-lifetime vocalist,” but on the eve of releasing his sophomore album, The Man My Mama Raised, Ian Flanigan views his gift a little differently.
“My voice has always been an interesting thing. It’s been a bit of a blessing and a curse,” he says with a smile. “It’s taken me years to figure out. You know the world is run by tenor vocals and being a baritone, you’ve always got to get a little creative to have that same kind of vocal impact.”
Despite his self-effacing demeanor, Flanigan’s voice has had considerable impact. Drawing comparisons to Joe Cocker and Chris Stapleton with his warm, raspy tone, Flanigan was a third-place finalist on The Voice as a member of Team Blake. Usher praised him as a “top gun” and Gwen Stefani said, “Nobody has a voice that sounds like that. It’s just so rare.” Shelton was so impressed with the veteran road warrior that he joined Flanigan on the single “Grow Up,” featured on his 2022 debut album Strong.
His new album, The Man My Mama Raised, showcases not only Flanigan’s gifts as a vocalist but also his songwriting prowess as he co-wrote nine of the 12 cuts. “I started working with a new producer for this record, John Stone, and when we first got together, we decided to write the bulk of the record,” he shares, “but we also wanted to cut a couple of songs to really help set the direction, so we picked two songs right off the bat. One was ‘Broken Heart’ and the other was ‘I Don’t Smoke.’ Those are the only two besides the cover of Tina Turner’s “What’s Love Got to Do with It” that I didn’t write or co-write.”
The taut production combined with Flanigan’s smokey vocals and memorable songs meld to create an album that is rapidly expanding the singer/songwriter’s fan base. The project is the culmination of more than a decade of honing his skills through relentless touring, all in pursuit of a dream that began during his childhood in the Catskill Mountains in a tiny town near Woodstock, NY. “I was about 10 years old, and I was pretty confident that I was going to be a musician,” he says. “My mom and I used to write songs as a kid. They weren’t really great, but we would just write songs all the time about anything. By the time I was 12, my parents hooked me up with my guitar teacher and I’ve been really dedicated to it ever since.”
That dedication reached a higher level in 2019 when he sold everything, bought a Winnebago and hit the road. There’s no substitute for playing night after night to test a musician’s resolve and dedication to their craft. It’s also an excellent opportunity to learn how to truly entertain any type of crowd.
“As an artist, it allowed me to see the country on a ground level which was super inspiring,” he says. “I never would have had that insight if I didn’t do that. I’m mostly grateful for the hardships that came with it because it taught me just so much when it comes to just following your path and believing in yourself.”
That trial by fire helped Flanigan prove his mettle, but it all came to a screeching halt when the pandemic hit. Like all musicians, Flanigan found his career stalled by circumstances beyond his control. With just $90 in the bank, his future was riding on an audition for The Voice. He took a shot, succeeded and found a large and enthusiastic fan base.
His Reviver Records debut album, Strong, delivered on the promise Flanigan displayed on The Voice. “Grow Up” reached No. 5 on the US iTunes sales chart. He toured with Chris Janson and Trace Adkins, and has been featured on CMT, RFD-TV, Fox News, American Songwriter, Whiskey Riff, The Music Universe, Country Now, Everything Nash, Entertainment Tonight, People Magazine, USA Today, Yahoo News, and The Wrap.
His new album looks sure to continue that momentum. “Our goal on this record was to create a new lane in country music, something that was like totally my own,” he says. “We wanted diversity and we were focused on great storytelling. Plus, we were always keeping the live show in mind.”
He credits his producer for helping him realize his vision. “We met at the Island Time Music Festival,” he says of connecting with Stone at the Isla Mujeres, Mexico event. “We really hit it off. We were hanging out the whole time and about eight months later I gave him a call and asked him if he wanted to produce a couple of songs on this next record. It ended up turning from three songs to the whole record. We’ve been creating music ever since.”
Always evocative, Flanigan sounds even more confident vocally on The Man My Mama Raised. “John definitely pushed the hell out of me on this record vocally and helped me learn the sections of my range and how to layer the stuff with the full band,” he says. “I learned so much on my last record of what to do and what not to do vocally, so it was a combination of all of that that kind of got us here today.”
One of the standout tracks on the The Man My Mama Raised is Flanigan’s sensuous take on Tina Turner’s classic. “‘What’s Love Got to Do with It’ is probably one of my favorite covers that I’ve ever done,” Flanigan says. “It’s just a really fun song.”
Flanigan also covers “I Don’t Smoke.” “This song was originally cut by Lee Brice and Warren Haynes,” he smiles. “What I love about the song is that it’s this really celebratory fun jam of a song that is saying, ‘I don’t smoke. I don’t drink. I don’t take no pills.’ I’ve been alcohol free for over nine years now, so I’m always trying to write the next song that isn’t necessarily a drinking song.”
“Gimme Cash” is an uptempo romp that pays homage to country music’s roots as Flanigan playfully sings, “Just gimme Cash. You can keep the change.’” “I wrote that with John probably the week before we went to cut the rest of the record and we were like, ‘We’ve got to cut this. It’s too fun,’” he says.
The album isn’t short on such light-hearted numbers, but the songs that are sure to cement Flanigan’s reputation as one of the premiere singer/songwriters of his generation are the reflective “Words I Never Heard An Old Man Say” and the intensely personal “The Man My Mama Raised.” “We were thinking about what your Grandpa would tell you,” he says of penning “Words I Never Heard An Old Man Say” with Stone. “Then it slowly morphed into all these sayings like, ‘What if we turned it to where it’s not the advice that you get, but it’s all the things that you’ve never heard an old man that you respect ever say and the advice is in there?’ and that’s kind of what spurred the insight for it.”
The album’s title track was written after a heartbreaking loss. “This is probably the heaviest song on the record,” he says of “The Man My Mama Raised,” which he co-wrote with John Stone. “I lost my mother this past year in October. It’s really a tribute to her. You just hope that you can find a way to be half the man that your mama raised you to be. It’s the title track of the album because all these songs are the accumulation of who I am today and the artist I’ve become. I wouldn’t be any of that without her, so it’s really just like an umbrella title for the whole record, even though there’s every kind of emotion in this record. This is the most personal song.”
Laying his heart bare with a poignant slice of life ballad or channeling his honky tonk energy into a roaring uptempo, Flanigan serves up potent songs that reflect all facets of the human experience. And he does it all with an unmistakable, achingly beautiful baritone that anchors each song in a way no one else can. “There’s relatability between all of us and the hardships and all the joys in life,” Flanigan says. “I really want people to feel a connection after they listen to this album. “There’s a few songs that are just fun and are barn burners and then there’s some really, really deep stuff that we all go through. I hope the listener just feels a sense of connection, and I hope they have a good time.”