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From Spike Island to San Francisco: Michelle Burke’s musical memoir of family, faith and folklore

Richard Beck Richard Beck
26 Jul 2025

We talked to singer Michelle Burke about her EdFringe show, Mind How You Go.

Even though they couldn’t go anywhere, it opened up a world of imagination and possibilities for them


Michelle, with your Celtic heritage, it's not surprising that you’ve chosen to tell the surreal history of your family through music and storytelling. What material did you have available to draw on?

Well, when I first started working on my new record, I had a scrapbook of photos and stories and a few ideas stuck into it. There’s a stunning photo of The Twins – my granny's mother and her twin sister. The story goes that, at the age of 16, one of them snuck out the window to a local dance, caught the black flu, and died.

Then there are poems that my great-grand-uncle wrote when he was a political prisoner on Spike Island. A rhyme my Granny Griffin recited was the starting point for a song called Crow – and just stories, I suppose, that have stuck with me over the years.

I understand there are some rather crazy stories within your family history. Would you like to give us a taste?

Well, I suppose all families have stories they grow up just hearing, and mine are no more extraordinary than anyone else's. The stories are varied – from the arrival of Uncle Pat from San Francisco with his family on the day Neil Armstrong landed on the moon. My aunt found a photo of Uncle Pat at the airport in San Francisco, all decked out in a dickie bow and tuxedo, waiting to board the plane.

But the story of that summer of 1969 started much earlier for my mother and her siblings. Uncle Pat had sent home a cheque for my Grandad Albert to buy him a car for his holiday so he could show the family around Ireland. He had saved for years for this trip. My grandad couldn’t drive, so a Hillman Hunter sat on the road outside the house for months awaiting the arrival of the American cousins. My mother and all her siblings were allowed to sit in the car after their supper each night.

My uncle told me that even though they couldn’t go anywhere, it opened up a world of imagination and possibilities for them. They still talk about that summer of 1969 when the American cousins arrived. They looked different, smelt different – it was like they were from another planet.

How do you view the part that organised religion has played in your life?

I have very mixed views about it all. When I was a child, I didn’t know any different. I went to Mass, was confirmed and made my Holy Communion. It was just the done thing when I was small – everyone at school did it. It was very much part of the community I grew up in.

There’s no doubt it shapes you as a person when it’s such a big part of your childhood – for both good and bad. I did love the hymns though. I’ve always felt uneasy about the power the Church held. It’s complicated, but I don’t go to Mass anymore – well, very rarely.

You reference colonialism – how do you feel about that, in both the context of Ireland and Scotland?

Living away from Ireland for over 20 years now, I can’t help but see how deeply colonialism affected both places. My great-grand-uncle was a political prisoner on Spike Island during the War of Independence. And you see similar patterns in Scotland’s history too – the Highland Clearances, the suppression of Gaelic culture, the way communities were displaced and scattered.

Ireland’s story is similar to what is happening in Palestine right now. It makes you realise that all those colonial patterns I grew up hearing about in Irish history – they’re not ancient history at all. They’re still playing out around the world today.

Music is an integral part of your show. It’s varied and centred around your latest album. Tell us about the compositions and the other musicians.

Duke Special produced the album, which will launch in the autumn. I’m a big fan of his work. When I performed my show Step into My Parlour at Celtic Connections, I invited him as a special guest, so I was delighted when he agreed to produce my new record. I co-wrote the songs with Duke Special, Kathryn Williams, Boo Hewerdine and Stewart Robbie. There’s a wonderful cast of musicians on the album, including gorgeous backing vocals from Rhiannon Giddens and Inge Thompson.

When my grand-uncle Tom was a political prisoner on Spike Island, he wrote poetry – and we’ve set one of his poems, Smile A While, which features on both the album and in the show. There’s a song called American Cousins, Twins, The Calling, and a song called From Cabot Cove to Conna, which is inspired by Angela Lansbury moving to our parish.

What would you like audiences to take away from the show?

I hope people leave smiling – and maybe even wondering what stories live quietly in their own families, or how the places and people we come from shape who we are.

Richard Beck

Richard Beck

A graduate in theology and education, Richard acted and contributed to dance, drama and music productions throughout his teaching career. He joined Broadway Baby in 2014 and is now our Editor-in-Chief. He usually disappears to warmer climes for the winter to pursue his passion for travel.

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