Empire Rockfest: Alan Doyle + Matt Andersen & The Big Bottle of Joy + DRR

Alan Doyle

Expect the unexpected from Welcome Home, Alan Doyle’s fourth full-length solo studio album and 20th overall. While upholding his status as a perennial merrymaker — a reputation burnished by his years with acclaimed folk-pop combo Great Big Sea — the new album also finds the multifaceted singer- songwriter and 14-time JUNO Award nominee exploring novel sonic terrain.Alongside marquee co-writers Jimmy Rankin, Donovan Woods, and Hollywood actor Oscar Isaac (yep, of Star Wars fame), Doyle presents nine original songs that are both typically buoyant and surprisingly intimate, what Doyle refers to as “the lower and slower: the lower part of my vocal range and the slower songs. I’m letting myself do that for the first time on this record,” which he cut in Montreal with producer-engineer Marcus Paquin.Doyle’s CV is extensive — he is a thrice-published author, a film and TV actor-producer with multiple major credits, and the co-producer of the recently released, 20-song Ron Hynes tribute album, Sonny Don't Go Away. Yet the wildly popular musician from Petty Harbour, Newfoundland remains most electrifying before a live audience, abetted by his ace band. “I am the luckiest guy in the world,” Doyle says. “It’s such a privilege to stand among those players on stage.”

Matt Andersen & The Big Bottle of Joy

The Big Bottle of Joy is about celebration - hard-won, overflowing, exuberant celebration. Matt Andersen’s latest long-player lives up to the grand title from its opening song, “Let It Slide”; a muscular, organ-drenched urge for people to chill out and be good to each other - to its understated, romantic curtain-closer, “Shoes.” Andersen finds reason to sustain this celebration of the life we share together everywhere - on the road, missing a lover; between the sheets in a southern Ontario motel room; from Montreal “all the way to New Orleans;” in a “little kitchen ballroom” on a quiet night at home. Over a dozen songs infused with raw blues-rock, rollicking Americana, thoughtful folk, and ecstatic gospel, he testifies to something we could all do well to remember: the time we have together is special, so let’s spend it the right way.

“Being good to each other, you know, in taking care of each other - those are the biggest things I want to put out there,” Andersen says. “If we're in it together, it'll be a lot easier than trying to do it on our own.”

Dead Root Revival

Dead Root Revival is not a straight-up Blues outfit, nor are they just another Rock band. The band draws from many corners of the musical spectrum, and sometimes shift between these influences mid-song. One thing you can count on: a DRR concert is a variety of music and moods, shifts in tempo, and a sweeping use of dynamic range, resulting in a powerful concert experience. At the heart of the band, is veteran singer/songwriter/guitarist Tom Savage. Many who know Savage for his more folk-oriented output, are genuinely floored by the ferocity with which he attacks the strings of his signature Gibson Nighthawk. Joined by the virtuosic Tony Silvestri on keys, and anchored by the rock-solid rhythm section of Bonz Bowering (drums) and Richard Piche (bass), this is Rock and Roll of the highest order.

It's rough. It's raw. It's powerful. It's Dead Root Revival.

Host or Publisher The Empire Theatre