Article Contributed by Gratefulweb
Published on 2026-04-15
Alan Doyle - photo credit: Sullivan Event photography
Long before the stages, the tours, and the packed theaters, Alan Doyle learned music in a kitchen—where songs weren’t performed so much as passed around, shared, and lived in. That spirit has never really left him.
Decades later, whether fronting Great Big Sea or leading his own band, Doyle still carries that same instinct into every room he plays—including the Boulder Theater, where he returns May 10 on his Already Dancing tour. It’s a place that meets him halfway: a listening crowd when it matters, a dancing crowd when it counts.
We caught up with Doyle ahead of his Boulder stop to talk about writing songs that stick, the pull of live performance, and why the train, as he puts it, is still rolling.
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Get Tickets for Boulder Theater – May 10
Grateful Web: You’ve spent your career writing songs that feel bigger than the room—songs people join rather than just listen to. When you’re writing now, are you still chasing that communal spark, or has your relationship with songwriting shifted over time?
Alan Doyle: I still LOVE to write songs that get a room full of people to immediately clap and sing together. I suppose that remains the most satisfying thing for me. But I am for sure trying to whisper a little more than I would have when I was younger. I am becoming more and more comfortable writing songs that are just confessional or quiet… but this does not come easily to a fella like me who wants the big splash every time he opens his mouth.
Grateful Web: Great Big Sea shows always had that unmistakable sense of shared experience—more like a gathering than a concert. Do you consciously try to recreate that energy in your solo shows, or does it just naturally follow you?
Alan Doyle: It’s just natural for me and always has been. My entire musical apprenticeship has been about coordinating a celebration. Never did a recital in my life. I was born into the Kitchen Party of the Doyle’s in Petty Harbour. I graduated into my Uncle Ronnie's Band that had one mandate: keep the dance floor full. I got to Great Big Sea and we became the leaders of the pub singing. It’s just what my instincts tell me music is for.
Grateful Web: Boulder crowds tend to lean in—they listen, but they also give a lot back. What have you noticed about playing places like the Boulder Theater over the years, and how does that kind of audience shape the show?
Alan Doyle: Boulder might be my favourite place in the US. I fell in love with it touring with GBS. Just the best music lovers. Listen when it's quiet, dance when it's quick.
Grateful Web: Your new EP Already Dancing feels loose, alive, and unforced—like it was made in motion. How much of that comes from writing on the road versus sitting down with intention in a studio?
Alan Doyle: I almost never write in the studio. I tend to prep music when I'm touring or flying on planes or doing something else. Songs come to me when I'm not thinking about them. If I want to come up with a song idea, I walk the dogs or paint the fence. We prepped almost all these songs in advance and slammed out the finished products over two days in a studio in Calgary, so if they sound live and off the floor, it’s because they likely were.
Grateful Web: “Take It Easy With Me” came together in about 45 minutes. Do those quick songs usually end up being the most honest?
Alan Doyle: That is an excellent question. Songs so rarely come quickly to me that I'm not sure I know the answer. I can tell you that I find it quite fun to blast off a song like “Take It Easy With Me” because the lyrics get gradually more buzzed as they go—just like I did while writing it. I guess there’s honesty in that.
Grateful Web: You’ve worn a lot of hats—musician, actor, author. Do those different creative outlets feed each other?
Alan Doyle: They are different arms of the same brain, I’d say. I love creative and performative projects, especially if they are collaborative. I love getting in a room with others and making something up. So the acting and the songs and the theatre all feel like a similar skillset. The books are quite different. It’s solitary work. I don’t like it as much, but it is good for me to engage in it.
Grateful Web: Newfoundland has such a deep storytelling tradition. Do you feel like you’re carrying that lineage forward?
Alan Doyle: I try not to think about the lineage or the legacy as I feel the weight of the responsibility of it might trip me up. I just chase whatever idea is the most appealing and hope beyond hope that it leads to something good.
Grateful Web: Covering “The Crawl” feels like honoring a whole era. What made that the right fit?
Alan Doyle: Geoffrey and Spirit of the West are amongst the most influential bands in my life. I’d never heard folk instruments played the way they played them. I've cherished every chance to gather with Geoff or any of the gang. The Crawl is a song I played in bars as a teen on George Street in St. John’s, Newfoundland. It’s a pub rocker. You can’t have too many of them in the set.
Grateful Web: What still excites you most about making music today?
Alan Doyle: Live shows. Same as when I was ten years old. People giving up their night to come to the venue to see what we’ve got to offer. It still thrills me to no end that folks give us their evening.
Grateful Web: There’s a lot of humor and lightness in what you do, even when the themes run deeper. How important is that balance?
Alan Doyle: I've always leaned to the lighter side. It’s the most honest reflection of how I learned to play music. I love the juxtaposition of a few rowdy party songs followed by something that hits a little harder. I like taking the audience on a ride where they never know what to expect.
Grateful Web: When you step onstage now, what still gives you that feeling of this is why I do it?
Alan Doyle: “I only want to see your smiles, shining in my wake.” It’s as simple as that.
Grateful Web: For folks coming out to Boulder Theater on May 10, what kind of night are you hoping they walk into?
Alan Doyle: It will be a musical review of Newfoundland traditional music, Great Big Sea favorites, songs from my catalogue, and a fun cover or two thrown in. All designed to be the greatest kitchen party in the history of Colorado.
Grateful Web: What’s already in motion right now that you’re excited about?
Alan Doyle: Another staging of a musical I helped create is in the works. Tell Tale Harbour has been a great side project, and I'm excited for people to get another chance to see it.
Grateful Web: Do you feel like you’re in a creative stretch right now?
Alan Doyle: I think of it all as a train that still rolls. Like any train, it has stops—but the destination is nowhere in sight.
Grateful Web: Do current events shape your songwriting at all?
Alan Doyle: Everything affects everything else. Sometimes I wish that wasn’t true, but it is. When times are bleak, I tend to want to offer the most whimsy. When people are stressed, I want to offer the silliest things. I suppose I just always want to give people what they need the most.
