Russell, Michael (‘Micho’) (1915–94), whistle player and singer, was born 25 March 1915 at Doonagore, not far from Doolin, Co. Clare, one of a family of three boys and two girls born to Aibhistín (Austin) Russell, farmer, and Annie Russell (née Moloney). Since his mother and father were both native Irish speakers he heard a great deal of Irish spoken in his youth, and he was one of the last native Irish speakers from the area. His mother played the concertina and sang, his father was a sean-nós singer, and his brothers, Patrick (Pakie, d. 1977) and Austin (Gussie, d. 2004), were also accomplished musicians.
Micho started to learn the tin whistle when he was eleven years old. His father bought his first whistle for him, which was a ‘Clarke's’ whistle. At the age of fourteen he left the local national school and worked with his father on the farm. He sang in Irish and in English and learned many songs from parents; he also began to play the flute. Conscious of his musical heritage, he went to older players in the locality, and he learned many tunes from a neighbour, Patrick Flannagan. He played with his brothers at house dances and was constantly acquiring new tunes. Breandán Breathnach has transcribed hundreds of these, of which twenty-six are published in Ceol rince na hÉireann (1976). Other musicians and collectors made Micho's acquaintance and made recordings of him. Among them were Séamus Ennis (qv), Ciarán Mac Mathúna, and Peter Browne. Tom Munnelly recorded him for the department of Irish folklore at UCD.
Russell played in the Clare style: he used little ornamentation, and foot-tapping was a feature. He was very influential not only for his whistle playing and singing but because of his particularly charismatic personality. Russell was seen as something of a ‘character’: humility and good humour were key elements but, as Michael Coady has written, ‘the music was the man and the man the music’ (Coady, 29). With the folk revival in the 1950s and 1960s he began to travel widely and play at festivals, recitals, and concerts. He appeared at the Tradition Club in Slattery's pub in Dublin and in 1969 performed with the folk group The Johnstons in London, where his sister Mary Kate lived. In 1973 he won the all-Ireland whistle competition at the Fleádh Cheoil. He played all over Europe, including in Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Austria. In 1976 he participated in the Smithsonian Institution's bicentennial festival in Washington, DC, and in the 1990s he travelled again to America, where he worked closely with Denis Winters and Bill Ochs. While there he met Pete Seeger, a meeting that was arranged by Winters. His music and songs have appeared in booklets and on cassettes and compact discs. The recordings include The Russell family of Doolin (1975) and Ireland's whistling ambassador: Micho Russell (1995). Some of his songs have been published in The well of spring water (1996) and in Micho's dozen (1991).
Russell never married, and while returning from a trip to Connemara he was killed in a car accident 19 February 1994.