Or… the
magic of Twitter. I think I need to explain myself a bit here…
It’s been a few months that I’m on Twitter now and since most of the accounts I follow are music-related, most of my followers are either friends… or musicians. I can’t unfortunately spend my days listening to new sounds as I’m not working in the music biz but once back home, I still try to take a moment to listen to at least one song of my new followers, send them a word and/or… spread the word to everyone through Twitter or Facebook.
Last Saturday, I was having aaaaall day just for myself, I therefore had plenty of time to check out new followers’ music and Josh Doyle was one of those who had entered into my Twitter-circle. Before listening to his music, I checked his background and found out he was living in Nashville. So, to be honest, I was mentally prepared to hear some traditional country music (not that I don’t like it). And it was a mistake.
The first song I listened to was the album’s opening track, “Everyone’s Alone”. Yeah, well, sure it has some acoustic guitar in it, like most country songs but in this case, there was something more… enough to make me musically fall in love in… something like 30 seconds. The melody, the voice and - as the song continued - the lyrics found their way into me. Sometimes, you have the feeling that you need more than one song to be sure of the “thing”. Sometimes, you have the feeling that one song is just enough and that you already know you’ll feel safe and most importantly… happy. In Josh’s case, I felt that “Everyone’s Alone” was part of the second feeling. And it wasn’t a mistake.
It’s been a few months that I’m on Twitter now and since most of the accounts I follow are music-related, most of my followers are either friends… or musicians. I can’t unfortunately spend my days listening to new sounds as I’m not working in the music biz but once back home, I still try to take a moment to listen to at least one song of my new followers, send them a word and/or… spread the word to everyone through Twitter or Facebook.
Last Saturday, I was having aaaaall day just for myself, I therefore had plenty of time to check out new followers’ music and Josh Doyle was one of those who had entered into my Twitter-circle. Before listening to his music, I checked his background and found out he was living in Nashville. So, to be honest, I was mentally prepared to hear some traditional country music (not that I don’t like it). And it was a mistake.
The first song I listened to was the album’s opening track, “Everyone’s Alone”. Yeah, well, sure it has some acoustic guitar in it, like most country songs but in this case, there was something more… enough to make me musically fall in love in… something like 30 seconds. The melody, the voice and - as the song continued - the lyrics found their way into me. Sometimes, you have the feeling that you need more than one song to be sure of the “thing”. Sometimes, you have the feeling that one song is just enough and that you already know you’ll feel safe and most importantly… happy. In Josh’s case, I felt that “Everyone’s Alone” was part of the second feeling. And it wasn’t a mistake.
I also
listened to “Solarstorms”, the second single. 13 seconds later, I have that
dumb smile on my face, best proof that I like it. Here comes the chorus and I
put my hands up in the air like a child that just received his Christmas
present! This is it! This is what I love and make me feel good and happy! This
is all I need in life… moments like this that make the day much brighter than it
was the minute before.
“Solarstorms”’s melody belongs to those that stick in your head for a while and that you can’t easily get rid of. I had not listened to the album for a few days and for unknown reasons, woke up Friday morning with the melody in my head and ended up singing the chorus in the bathroom (great acoustic! :D) while getting ready before heading to the office. I kind of also saw this as a sign: if one of his songs popped in my head out of nowhere, I had to write a few lines about Josh and his music…
“Solarstorms”’s melody belongs to those that stick in your head for a while and that you can’t easily get rid of. I had not listened to the album for a few days and for unknown reasons, woke up Friday morning with the melody in my head and ended up singing the chorus in the bathroom (great acoustic! :D) while getting ready before heading to the office. I kind of also saw this as a sign: if one of his songs popped in my head out of nowhere, I had to write a few lines about Josh and his music…
Where does Mr.
Doyle come from? He may live in Nashville and be American but he was born in
the UK and resided there for a while. I found out he was once part of a band named
The Dum Dums and the name didn’t seem too unknown to me. True. While watching The
Dum Dums’ “Can’t Get You Out Of My Thoughts” on YouTube, I remembered seeing
that video on MTV a few times back in the early 2000s. Josh apparently parted
ways with the band because their record company wanted to make them be
something Josh wasn’t willing to be. He went his own way, left everything
behind and crossed the ocean with his wife to start a new life in Nashville. He
had a few life-struggling moments but music was never really much far away: he
kept on recording music and EPs on a fan-based scale; he personally sent orders
to his fans… To keep this fan base interested, he entered the 2012 Guitar
Centre Singer-Songwriter Contest… and won the competition. Leading to… this
album. Originally, this eponymous album was supposed to be a 3-songs EP but the
producer was so impressed by Josh than it ended up being a full 10-tracks album.
The artist, his world, music and words are most of the time what makes an album but to me, producers and musicians bringing their respective skills are also valuable additions to an album.
Josh’s record’s producer being John Shanks, it couldn’t be any less than “quality work”. Shanks belongs to those producers who know how music works since he’s a musician himself. He produced albums for Stevie Nicks, Sheryl Crow, Backstreet Boys, Bon Jovi, Alanis Morissette and wrote songs for The Corrs, Michelle Branch, Keith Urban…
Even though he has an extensive resume as a drummer and offered his services to various artists (Peter Gabriel, Fiona Apple, John Mayer, David Bowie, Mika, Sean Lennon, Springsteen…), I will always associate Matt Chamberlain with The Wallflowers’ “Bringing The Horse Down” as it is the album that helped me discover the band of Bob Dylan’s youngest son. He was never a member of The Wallflowers though since Mario Calire joined the band right after the recording the album!
Bassist Leland Sklar’s career is one of the most prolific ones: Crosby Still & Nash, Neil Diamond, Phil Collins, Art Garfunkel, Dolly Parton, James Taylor… are a VERY few of the artists he worked for.
No need to tell you then how much Josh Doyle had been blessed with skilled and experienced people on his album…
Let’s get back to Josh and his music, OK?
To keep it simple, for those of you who like Eddie Vedder’s Into The Wild soundtrack, Robert Francis and John Mayer, I think you may find some interest in Josh Doyle. But… there’s more. Doyle has his own world and his own way to let us know about it…
Don’t expect big rock tunes though… Yes, there are some electric guitar notes but most guitars are acoustic and give us the main tone of Josh Doyle’s album : it’s one of those you should listen to while heading South to your vacation site rather that heading to the Hellfest. It’s also the kind of music that reminds me that Summer is coming and that I could just lay in the grass, put my headphones on, close my eyes, just press “play” and… enjoy the moment.
But, my friends… That doesn’t mean you’d end up falling asleep in the grass: there’s also enough energy in some of his songs to make you want to get up and, if you’re up to it, sing along.
If “Solarstorms” has this sweet rock-tone, “Swallow The World” hardens that tone a bit more and gives Josh the opportunity to show his vocal range as he goes for higher-pitched notes on the chorus. It also crossed my mind that it’d be interesting to suggest the song to Fighters’Dave Grohl and ask his opinion about it.
The artist, his world, music and words are most of the time what makes an album but to me, producers and musicians bringing their respective skills are also valuable additions to an album.
Josh’s record’s producer being John Shanks, it couldn’t be any less than “quality work”. Shanks belongs to those producers who know how music works since he’s a musician himself. He produced albums for Stevie Nicks, Sheryl Crow, Backstreet Boys, Bon Jovi, Alanis Morissette and wrote songs for The Corrs, Michelle Branch, Keith Urban…
Even though he has an extensive resume as a drummer and offered his services to various artists (Peter Gabriel, Fiona Apple, John Mayer, David Bowie, Mika, Sean Lennon, Springsteen…), I will always associate Matt Chamberlain with The Wallflowers’ “Bringing The Horse Down” as it is the album that helped me discover the band of Bob Dylan’s youngest son. He was never a member of The Wallflowers though since Mario Calire joined the band right after the recording the album!
Bassist Leland Sklar’s career is one of the most prolific ones: Crosby Still & Nash, Neil Diamond, Phil Collins, Art Garfunkel, Dolly Parton, James Taylor… are a VERY few of the artists he worked for.
No need to tell you then how much Josh Doyle had been blessed with skilled and experienced people on his album…
Let’s get back to Josh and his music, OK?
To keep it simple, for those of you who like Eddie Vedder’s Into The Wild soundtrack, Robert Francis and John Mayer, I think you may find some interest in Josh Doyle. But… there’s more. Doyle has his own world and his own way to let us know about it…
Don’t expect big rock tunes though… Yes, there are some electric guitar notes but most guitars are acoustic and give us the main tone of Josh Doyle’s album : it’s one of those you should listen to while heading South to your vacation site rather that heading to the Hellfest. It’s also the kind of music that reminds me that Summer is coming and that I could just lay in the grass, put my headphones on, close my eyes, just press “play” and… enjoy the moment.
But, my friends… That doesn’t mean you’d end up falling asleep in the grass: there’s also enough energy in some of his songs to make you want to get up and, if you’re up to it, sing along.
If “Solarstorms” has this sweet rock-tone, “Swallow The World” hardens that tone a bit more and gives Josh the opportunity to show his vocal range as he goes for higher-pitched notes on the chorus. It also crossed my mind that it’d be interesting to suggest the song to Fighters’Dave Grohl and ask his opinion about it.
On “I Want
To Break Your Mended Heart”, Josh sings out loud and with energy what some of
us keep inside after a break-up, how some of us may feel as they still see the
one they used to love… “I Want To Break Your Mended Heart”’s solo guitar give a
spicy addition to the track to make it sound like a nice next single. Just
sayin’…
One particular song caught my attention… The last one. The perfect one to end his album actually.
I’m not a religious person. I was born and raised as a Christian but lost faith 22 years ago due to a sad event in my life, never found that faith back and probably never will. I don’t need religion to guide my life as I believe mostly (and probably sometimes very naively) in people and all the good they bring in life. But I respect people’s beliefs and am curious about why religion is an important part of their life, whatever religion it is. On that subject, Josh Doyle’s.. erm… confession with the help of “My Jerusalem” is a moving moment of the album. I may not be a religious anymore but I can apparently still be touched by the grace of God... through music.
One particular song caught my attention… The last one. The perfect one to end his album actually.
I’m not a religious person. I was born and raised as a Christian but lost faith 22 years ago due to a sad event in my life, never found that faith back and probably never will. I don’t need religion to guide my life as I believe mostly (and probably sometimes very naively) in people and all the good they bring in life. But I respect people’s beliefs and am curious about why religion is an important part of their life, whatever religion it is. On that subject, Josh Doyle’s.. erm… confession with the help of “My Jerusalem” is a moving moment of the album. I may not be a religious anymore but I can apparently still be touched by the grace of God... through music.
Josh Doyle
is good at singing songs as if they were stories that had happened to him but
yet manage to insert lines that can be addressed to any of us. “This transcendent
ache we're feeling
is you and me against the world” obviously sounds like something taken from personal
journey but “What do you do when it's too late, when you can't even see that
you're the one” is something all of us can easily ask ourselves and relate to.
Actually, Josh Doyle’s lyrics make you think… think a little deeper about… well… a lot of things. About life too… Like when he’s singing “The meaning of life is to find your way home”. Not necessarily untrue. If you even dare thinking a little deeper and remembering another famous line saying that… “Home is where the heart is”. So… by extension… “The meaning of life is to find you way where the heart is”? I don’t think we’d enjoy life if we had not some love and great souls around all of us. And after listening to Mr. Doyle’s album with a wide opened heart (as I always do, to be honest), I ended up realizing that… yes, that man has a great soul and managed to put a lot of it in his songs. And it’s all up to us to enjoy the moment… isn’t it?
Actually, Josh Doyle’s lyrics make you think… think a little deeper about… well… a lot of things. About life too… Like when he’s singing “The meaning of life is to find your way home”. Not necessarily untrue. If you even dare thinking a little deeper and remembering another famous line saying that… “Home is where the heart is”. So… by extension… “The meaning of life is to find you way where the heart is”? I don’t think we’d enjoy life if we had not some love and great souls around all of us. And after listening to Mr. Doyle’s album with a wide opened heart (as I always do, to be honest), I ended up realizing that… yes, that man has a great soul and managed to put a lot of it in his songs. And it’s all up to us to enjoy the moment… isn’t it?
Josh Doyle
found me through Twitter and… I’m glad he did as he brought happiness in my
life this week thanks to his music.
Some people think that social media are a curse and dangerous but I’d rather think they can do wonderful things if they are used properly and carefully… such as helping unsigned bands to let know the world about their music, for example. Let’s be honest, the chances for me to learn about Josh’s existence and music were quite slim. He lives on the other side of world, his record company isn’t one of those with huge commercial promotion (which isn’t ultimately a bad thing as it prevents you from feeling like the record company’s “thing”), he didn’t appear on European television or tour Europe (yet)… but it ultimately happened.
Although… I’d have definitely found out about the Nashville singer if he were to be Robbie Williams’ opening act for his Take The Crown Stadium tour this Summer as I’ll be at the Stade Roi Baudouin on the 3rd of August. This idea is “something” between Josh Doyle, @RobbieWill1ams and a few other Twitter people (including me)… but that would ultimately be a BIG something. The more I think of it… the more I want it. Williams! COME ON… DO IT! Erm… sorry… “Mr. Williams, would you please take Mr. Doyle as your opening act for your Summer Tour? Thank you so much for your consideration.”
Now that won’t REALLY be easy writing articles with fingers crossed until August… ;)
Some people think that social media are a curse and dangerous but I’d rather think they can do wonderful things if they are used properly and carefully… such as helping unsigned bands to let know the world about their music, for example. Let’s be honest, the chances for me to learn about Josh’s existence and music were quite slim. He lives on the other side of world, his record company isn’t one of those with huge commercial promotion (which isn’t ultimately a bad thing as it prevents you from feeling like the record company’s “thing”), he didn’t appear on European television or tour Europe (yet)… but it ultimately happened.
Although… I’d have definitely found out about the Nashville singer if he were to be Robbie Williams’ opening act for his Take The Crown Stadium tour this Summer as I’ll be at the Stade Roi Baudouin on the 3rd of August. This idea is “something” between Josh Doyle, @RobbieWill1ams and a few other Twitter people (including me)… but that would ultimately be a BIG something. The more I think of it… the more I want it. Williams! COME ON… DO IT! Erm… sorry… “Mr. Williams, would you please take Mr. Doyle as your opening act for your Summer Tour? Thank you so much for your consideration.”
Now that won’t REALLY be easy writing articles with fingers crossed until August… ;)
Josh Doyle’s
website : http://joshdoyle.com/
Josh Doyle’s
Twitter : https://twitter.com/joshdoyle
Josh Doyle’s Facebook : http://www.facebook.com/joshdoylemusic
Josh Doyle’s Facebook : http://www.facebook.com/joshdoylemusic
Tracklist :
Everyone’s
Alone
When Your Heart Can’t Make Up Its Mind
When Your Heart Can’t Make Up Its Mind
Bird Of Prey
Solarstorms
Swallow The
World
I Figured
The World Out
Meaning Of
Life
I Want To
Break Your Mended Heart
This
Transcendent Ache
My Jerusalem
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