I am sitting in my kitchen in St John’s, Newfoundland watching through the windows as what only could be called a snownami covers the city.  My backyard has been made invisible, likewise my street and neighbors’ houses as a thick, salty veil of snow blows in from the Atlantic.  Quite fitting that that this wintery day affords a moment to look back on Leg 1 of the SO LET’S GO Tour; the most Canadian of all tours.

Leg 1 started and finished in the heart of the Canadian Winter.  I flew into Pearson Airport in Toronto and was whisked to a rehearsal studio not too far away where I met with these Beautiful Gypsies .

l-r Cory Tetford, Kendel Carson, me, Shehab Illyas, Todd Lumley, Kris MacFarlane

It was great to see all hands excited about the tour and learning the new SO LET’S GO tunes and getting new gear up and ready.   Here’s my rack for the tour.

l-r Kala Uke, Trinity College Bouzouki, Gibson 335, Godin A8 Mando, 2x Takamine EN10 C

Here’s my Pedal Board

Very modest compared to Cory’s.

And they say size does not matter.

After a couple of pretty intense rehearsals I hit the press tour on Monday.  Had some grand chats on TV and radio and even sang the Anthem at The Leafs game in TO.  As the Carolina Hurricanes were the visiting team, I had to sing the Star Spangled Banner, the hardest song in the world to sing if you are not a rangey singer.  It has always puzzled me, singing the Anthems.  It occupies a strange pace in the world of entertainment.  If you do it well, no one cares or even notices.  You do it poorly, and you instantly become a YouTube Star.   I got through it all and enjoyed the game.

The concerts for real started in Kitchener and rolled for a few weeks through the dead of winter in Southern, Ontario.  Highlights on stage included the debut of many of the new tunes while highlights off stage included Cory karaoking Tom Petty in North Bay.  In the true winter of it all, we had to shovel our bus out in the middle of a storm in Brampton.

Over the duration of the three-week run, the new tunes left the front of our brains and went into the muscles of our hands and feet and mouths.  I love it when a new tune can be delivered without spending any energy remembering it.  It confirms for me that whatever magical process in my scattered brain that allows me to recall and perform 100’s of songs on cue, is still working.  I have no idea how it works, to be honest.  And I have no interest in learning how it works, for fear the discovery of it would ruin it somehow.

By the time we hit the magical Sold Out gigs in Toronto at the Danforth Music Hall and the triumphant homecoming at Holy Heart Auditorium, me and The Beautiful Gyspies had become a band.

A band with a real show to give people.

And that’s my favourite thing to be.

Leg 2 starts in Whitecourt, Alberta on Saturday.  At the World Snowmobile Invasion.
Let it Snow.

Cheers,
Alan

Early listeners to the new SO LET’S GO CD have responded with huge thumbs up.

“My CD is deadly.”
-a long haired fella from Petty Harbour

“Wicked Tape.”
-Cory Tetford (not necessarily the guitar player fella in the band)

“The new Alan Doyle CD could be the greatest collection of music ever compiled.”*
-Tom and Jean Doyle (possibly no relation)

Music Legends have weighed in…

“SO LET’S GO has taught me more about guitar than I ever knew before. It’s made me a WAY better player. That Alan dude is a shredder, man.”*
-Eddie Van Halen

“I thought I knew how to craft a great song but, wow, after hearing Alan Doyle’s new CD, I’ve got to get to Newfoundland and work with these folks.”*
-Neil Diamond

“My voice is higher now. After just one listen.”*
-fella from Outfield

“Um.”*
-Robert Plant

Celebrities as well…

“I bought one SO LET’S GO CD and felt good. I bought two more and felt better. So, I buy one every hour now and I find it keeps me I shape like never before.”
-Georges St. Pierre

“This CD is so great. I’m putting one under every seat in the world.”
-Oprah

“I never really felt beautiful and sexy before I heard SO LET’S GO. I wonder if Alan Doyle is single”*
-JLO, Beyonce, and Scarlett Johansson

So why not pick up a few hundred for yourself? Out everywhere Tuesday, Jan 20th.

Go here (iTunes)

Or here

Or to your fav CD store in town or online.

Very excited.

Thanks All.

Cheers,
Alan

* may or may not have actually been said; by anyone; ever.

Well into December, as the calendar year 2014 somehow is almost behind us all.

Where did it go?

I know I flew to Australia in January and played a few concerts and recorded some songs with some very talented people from all over the globe. In February, I remember writing and recording in Nashville and Los Angeles and speaking at the Hospitality Newfoundland conference in Gander. Wasn’t there a wicked jam in Toronto for a fundraiser for The Company Theatre, and a songwriters circle with Steven Page and Lindi Ortega in a beautiful room with leaves on the ceiling?

April found me in Ridgeway Ontario with the amazing Tawgs Salter making music in the coolest backyard studio. I have a foggy memory of a boys trip to Pittsburgh to help a pal celebrate a Bday around then, too. In May I played gigs in Parry Sound and few other places and turned half 90 years old. In June I had a grand time in Fredericton with the band but July started with a bummer when Stanfest was cancelled. Thankfully the month was saved by grand gigs in Huntsville, Meaford, Jackson Triggs, and Cornwall.

Pretty sure August came in with a bang with fun gigs with Blue Rodeo in Sydney and PEI. I might have had the best gig of my life on George Street before having my first ever author interview in Woody Point. Then wasn’t there a triumphant return to London, UK and Tonder Festival in Denmark. Yep, August was wicked.

September found me finishing the CD and October kicked off with pics for artwork and a music video with the awesome Scott Grimes and Jess Macallan. The bulk of the month and into November was spent promoting a book as close to home as Petty Harbour and as far away as Seattle.

And, quick as a wink, we find ourselves here in the twilight of 2014. A bit of a transition year for me as the GBS Mothership tied up the hiatus dock for a while after our glorious Twentieth Anniversary Year. This year I officially became an Author. Thanks to kind folks like many of yourselves, I became a Bestselling Author for frig’s sakes. Amazing. I have to say I’m very grateful for Nita and Scott and all at Random House Canada for holding my hand through the whole book thing and showing such faith in a novice like myself.

This year also marked a bit of a musical awakening as well. I’ve made a solo cd before with the Boy on Bridge project. That whole deal was as much a physical journey as a musical one. As much a pilgrimage to the backyards of my musical friends as an honest to God presentation of me and my own influences. This years musical pursuit which culminated in SO LET’S GO due out in January, is really a reflection of me dragging the influences of my own backyard into the writing and recording studios of the most successful modern music makers I could get to work with. It’s filled with big production pieces that are wrapped around a guy and a folk instrument. The title track is a good example. Big song with a dude whistling and playing the mando. Check out the tune and video here.

Likewise the tune that rolled during the curtain call for the amazing run of Republic
of Doyle on CBC:

Hope you all dig the tunes and the whole CD. As always I’m equally excited and nervous about the CD launch. You’d think I’d be over the butterflies of releasing new music and launching a new project, but I can’t help it. Fingers crossed.

Getting ready to hit the road hard in 2015 to play tunes from my two solo CDs, the GBS catalogue, the Crowe/Doyle Songbook, and a few other songs from movies TV shows etc. And what a gang of Beautiful Gypsies I’ve got coming along for the ride. Kendel Carson, Cory Tetford, Kris Macfarlane, Todd Lumley, and Shehab Illyas will be amongst the folks you’ll see at the gigs, which I am delighted to say are selling very well. A few are sold out already and they are not even happening till next year!

Love to see you at a show or two.

Check here for a date near you.

Hopefully you’ll spend the next week or so the way you want. Whatever that means for you, I hope you get to do it.

As for me, I suspect it will be much like it is right now. As I type, I am helping the Prince and one of his buddies are put together a Lego set as big as a refrigerator. In other words; perfect.

Happy Christmas Everybody.

Cheers,
Alan