Once Dylan
Doyle got hold of a guitar there was no turning back; his becoming a musician
was all but assured. At 17, this young artist from Clintondale continues to
hone his skills and develop a style that has deep roots in the blues but is one
that is all his own. He started playing the guitar just 4 years ago and made
his public debut a year later.
Doyle
paraphrased Albert Einstein, saying that when he started out in music “I
thought I knew it all and now as I learn more I know even less, especially
getting into music that is allot deeper like jazz or ragtime or things like
that where it takes allot of focus and understanding the roots of music
theory.” He said he has dabbled in the technical aspects of reading music but
added that it is always important for a musician to be able to improvise
without having paper in front of them. “I think a true musician is someone who
knows what they’re doing without being told how to do it,” adhering to the
belief that the ear comes first and written notes on a page comes second. Doyle
said in the future, however, he plans to devote more time to the theoretical
side of his craft.
“Right now I’m a
bit too naïve and bouncy to put too much focus into reading but [with] theory
its been a slow and steady progress but I’m digging into it now and its very rewarding,”
he said.
Doyle has
made regular appearances at the King Biscuit Blues Festival in Helena,
Arkansas, 70 miles southwest of Memphis and will be performing there again in
October.
“Its real
cool and you get to meet all of Levon Helm’s childhood friends; its like
walking around in his old stomping grounds,” Doyle said of the late drummer for
The Band, who grew up in nearby Turkey Scratch.
Doyle also
tours in the Midwest and will be returning for a second time to the Grateful
Garcia Gathering in Mauston, Wisconsin on July 31. He said he is also looking
forward to playing with the band Corner Boy in Ireland in a series of concerts
scheduled for next March.
Doyle said
some tours are quick short hops, 4 to 5 shows in 6 days but he recalled one
that was “cram packed” with traveling and performing 10 shows in 19 days. He
said “it was day after day” and the miles logged were “not enough and too
many.” He said they throw all of the equipment in a van and drive from show to
show, gypsy style – “all three of us and all the snacks.” Doyle said he used to
bring a “ridiculous” number of guitars on tour, a past practice he is reticent
to acknowledge, but has scaled that back to a more manageable two electrics and
a steel-string acoustic.
“Right
now my main guitar is a Fender 1956 Stratocaster reissue and recently a 1951
Telecaster reissue and a Taylor acoustic,” he said.
“If I want
a really gritty show I’ll play the Tele more but if I want a smoother, jazzier
show I’ll probably be more on the Strat,” he said. “I tend to play the Strat a
little bit more because I’m more familiar with it.” Doyle said he has slowly
been incorporating a few acoustic selections “and now I think we’re going to be
doing it in just about every show.”
Doyle’s amp
is a configuration of four, 10 inch speakers that has been modified to give it a coveted “tweed
sound”
“Its
down and dirty and much grittier but yet shines like a bell and has enough
bottom,” he said. “I only use tubes, I can’t stand solid state. It works for some people but not for me.”
Doyle said
he finds that people in the Midwest come out to the clubs “to really hear
music” and pay close attention to what his band is performing. He recalled one
couple who saw all three of their shows over the course of a weekend “after
stumbling upon us. There are some hard-core fans out there.” He said as they
move deeper into the South, people are measuring how well a northern boy can
live up to the legacy of their blues music “but when you can pull it off, its
rewarding.”
Doyle
to date has recorded three albums of material, with a fourth expected next
spring. He said his repertoire has broadened to include not only his staple of
original and traditional blues but also R&B roots and folk styles “stuff
like The Band to Bob Dylan and Hendrix. I have been trying to incorporate jazz
concepts over folk progressions and lyrics. Wes Montgomery is my main guy and
Django Reinhardt and Terez Montcalm. I like her voice a lot and I’ve been
taking some artistic liberties on her.”
Doyle said
he has received emails from people overseas from as far away as Australia and
Germany who have heard his music there on radio.
Doyle said
he is in the music game “for the long haul. I think it was [poet/novelist]
Charles Bukowski who said ‘Find what you love and let it kill you, so I’m in it
till it kills me.”
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