Michael 'Straighty' Flanagan

Michael ‘Straighty’ Flanagan: (1893 -1987) a lean, tallish man, lived with his older brother and sister-in-law in their farmhouse just outside Inagh village.  In the early days of the Willie Clancy Summer School, he would come into town to sing at the Friday afternoon concert, together with some of the other singers on the CDs, such as Tom Lenihan, Martin Reidy, Nora Cleary, etc.  Michael, or ‘Straighty’ as he was more usually known, was photographed by American photographer Dorothea Lange in the 1950s, and he once complained to us about American photographers who turned up, set up their equipment in the yard and began taking photographs without bothering to ask anybody’s permission, or explain what they were doing.  His photograph is to be found in Lange’s collection, Ireland, published in 1996, where he is incorrectly identified as a ‘seanachi’ (storyteller).  An album of ‘Straighty’s’ songs, entitled Lone Shanakyle, was released by Outlet records in 1981 and he was also included in the Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Éireann cassette and book, Traditional Songs and Singers, along with Tom Lenihan, in 1977.

Part of the booklet notes, written by Jim Carrol and Pat Mackenzie, to the Musical Traditions Records CDs Around the Hills of Clare (MTCD331-2)