Idol Chatter & Voice Views

His audition: Ian Flanigan, 30, of Saugerties, N.Y., performed “Colder Weather” by The Zac Brown Band. Blake turned midway through the performance. He’s the only coach who turned despite a nice, gritty vocal from Ian. Blake says his voice sounds like he gargles broken glass. Ian automatically landed on Team Blake.

Here’s more about Ian:

* The 30-year-old singer-songwriter is from Saugerties, N.Y., but no longer has a traditional home.

* That’s because in September 2019, Ian, his wife Ayla and their young daughter Kamea decided to “sell everything, pool our resources, put everything on the line” and buy a Winnebago.

* It’s now dubbed the FlaniVan, and the family recently celebrated the completion of their first year living out of the RV while traveling around the country.

* They document their adventures in a series of FlaniVan Tour videos on Ian’s YouTube channel and have a Patreon page for fans who would like to help support those adventures.

* Pre-FlaniVan, Ian released a pair of EPs, “Shades of Blue” in 2017 and “Give Me Color” last year. You can check out two tracks from the latter below.

* Ian has continued writing music. In May, after seeing all the high school graduations going virtual because of the pandemic, he posted a song to YouTube called “Through the Darkness” to provide “just a drop of positivity in the old ocean of crazy times.”

* A month earlier, he celebrated four years of sobriety on Instagram, writing: “It’s easy to find an excuse to feel pretty down about yourself, situation in life, or the world in general to a point where drinking/using seems like the obvious choice for a better reality, but they are all just that, excuses. Even though we’re facing troubling times and countless hardships, we have to always remember to lift each other up and love one another.”

* And on that Patreon page, he sums up his mission this way: “to learn, write, and create the best music I can, to connect with as many humans on this earth as possible, while I’m alive.”

Ian on social media:
Website
Instagram
Twitter
Facebook
YouTube