Inverness Oran Entertainment

Entertainment

Breathtaking range of work on Doyle’s self titled CD

Brian Doyle’s self titled CD


-by John Gillis


    Fans and afficionados of Celtic music who are fond of The King George strathspey can hold fast while listening to the opening cut of Brian Doyle’s new guitar CD.
    Take a deep breath because you’re in for a ride with the track Messin’ With the King. Anyone familiar with Brian’s blues sets will know that he loves to perform the tune, Messin’ With the Kid, and probably no other cut on the CD exemplifies Brian’s signature style of playing that Messin’ With the King. One minute you’re listening to the tune that many of you have probably heard thousands of times on fiddle (played on guitar) and then Brian weaves the chord structure into a blues/jazz fusion that is innovative, impeccable, and uplifting.
    “I often try to learn a traditional piece as correctly as possible and then, when you play as many musical genres as I do, it seems only natural to start messing around with some of the other possibilities a tune presents,” Doyle told The Oran this week.
    Doyle had a limited release of the new CD in December at The Inverness Legion but the poor weather made it difficult for many to come out that night. He plans on setting up some additional release shows this spring or summer.
    “I’m very pleased with the response I’ve had to the CD to date,” said Doyle.
    Doyle has been a staple on the Celtic music scene as well as on the rock, folk, jazz, and blues scene since the time he first took to the stage at the age of 14. There’s the rich musical heritage of his mother’s Chisholm family, which meant that Brian was surrounded by music from the time he was born.
    Through the years Brian has been integral to bands such as Greyloch (a Celtic rock fusion group nominated for ECMA Rock album of the year, 2000) as well as Cheticamp legends, The Phantoms. He has more recently been involved in numerous musicals in Cheticamp, has recorded with Scott Macmillan, and has toured all over Canada, The United States, Europe, and the UK with numerous acts in various genres, including Drum!
    Brian has also been a much sought-after teacher of guitar both privately and at Cape Breton’s Gaelic College. He has also been musical director of several Boardwalk Production shows and musical director of many shows in Cheticamp’s summer programs.
    This new CD is primarily an acoustic studio album with Doyle performing on all the instruments and on vocals on a few songs as well. There’s a guest vocal appearance on Star of the County Down from friend and musical collaborator, Judy McIsaac.
    Brian credits Barry and Judy McIsaac of Marsh Brook Studio in Margaree, where the album was recorded, mastered, and mixed.
    “Barry and I had such a blast recording this project and he and I and Judy became great friends in the process,” said Doyle.
    Brian also credits his family, wife Denise and daughters Kiera and Tess, for their support through the creation of this album.
    Despite the acoustic nature of the recording there is one cut on the record where it certainly called out for electric guitar,” said Doyle, referring to the multi-tracked lovely melody Doyle creation called, A Walk in the Storm.
    “It has a bit of a story to it. I had always thought my mother wrote that track. I’d had it in my head from the time I was quite young. Over the years, I’d often played it for many fiddlers wondering if they could identify it as something they heard but nobody ever did. Finally, my mother said to me – ‘Brian, you wrote that yourself.’”
    There are great stories behind each of the 11 tracks on this album. As with many Celtic CDs, you will find the track title refers to one tune in an arrangement or grouping of tunes.
    Doug’s Conundrum, for example, is another interesting one.
    “Several years ago, I’d been playing on a regular basis with the late fiddler, Dougie MacDonald, and we set a challenge for each other where we tried to write something that the other couldn’t play and the middle part of this set is what I had composed, hence the title,” said Doyle.
    The Rapids and Doug’s Conundrum also have a distinctly bluegrass feel to them.
    “The Rapids very much has a bluegrass feel to it. It is comprised of two separate pieces that seemed to fit very well together and it is also an homage to the guitarist Tony Rice.
    Abrigo is another composition of Brian’s that has a definite Latin feel to it. It’s a tune named after an animal shelter called Dogs in Brazil.
    Mad Flora is one of the vocal tracks on the album with music by Brian and lyrics from novelist Frank Macdonald of Inverness.
    For copies of the CD, contact Brian at 902-224-5275.
    You can catch Brian Doyle and friends (Doug Johnson, Mike Murdock, John Gillis, Steve Hughes, and Neil MacQuarrie) this Saturday night, February 16th (doors opening at 8:30 p.m., music at 9:00 p.m.) at the Valentines Blues in the Night dance at The Inverness County Centre for the Arts.
    Put on your dancing shoes and get out and beat those winter blues!

 

 

 

 


    

 


Oran Dan - The Inverness Oran - www.invernessoran.ca

The Inverness Oran
15767 Central Avenue. P.O. Box 100
Inverness, Nova Scotia. B0E 1N0
Tel.: 1 (902) 258-2253. Fax: 1 (902) 258-2632
Email: [email protected]