Musician. Singer-songwriter. Actor. Author. Think of an artistic expression and Alan Doyle has probably done it at some point in his career. Doyle hails from Newfoundland, Canada, and is currently on tour promoting his new live album “Here, Tonight.”
“I have been accused, rightly so, of writing songs for the concert more than the record,” Doyle said. “And because [performing is] my first love, I just find it hard not to constantly serve for the master, like writing songs for the setlist more than the playlist.”
Doyle was born into a musical-based family. He describes his family as the one family that can be found in every little fishing town that plays in churches and for dancers as a band. Throughout his time in university, he played in pubs and moved into a professional musical career after receiving his Bachelor of Arts.
“I had a couple of acquaintances, that were not even friends yet, and they were doing mostly traditional music. They wanted to reform a new band with somebody who can play rock and roll, so he asked me to do that,” he said. “I started playing music for a living, quit my job and we went on the road. Never looked back.”
Doyle writes and produces his own songs, stating that the process is “always varied and different.”
“I like to have an open mind about how it gets made,” Doyle said. “I am always learning and eager to learn new ways to do it. I still consider myself a student of it all.”
He recognizes that the particulars of his time period, culture and location are all significant factors influencing his music and performances.
“The fact that I was born into this Celtic culture of sea shanties, traditional and Irish music, combined with the fact that I was born into the dying breast of the 1960s, which made me a teenager in the Hair Metal Days of the 1980s, makes for an interesting crossroads in music,” Doyle said.
With every art form that Doyle pursues, he thinks that they all represent who he is, which ties every piece of his art together.
“That’s all I can bring to anything I do, all I got is me,” he said. “I think that is a brave realization, that you need to bring your whole self to every project you go into and hope that it is the right context, the right mix.”
Listen to Here, Tonight and see Doyle live at The Ark on April 27.
Tickets to Alan Doyle’s Ann Arbor show at The Ark can be purchased HERE.
April 27, 2022 at 8pm (Doors open at 7:30pm), tickets start at $40.
The Ark 316 S. Main St. Ann Arbor, MI (734) 761-1818 theark.org
