"The lyrics of a song — the journey within — that’s the most important thing to me.”

Michelle Doyle’s musical journey has been a long and interesting adventure, one that has taken her from her birthplace in a Newfoundland fishing village to stages around the world, with a lifetimes’ worth of songs and experiences picked up along the way. Now, as an artist, she has arrived at an important station with the release of her self-titled debut album.

“Over the years I have experimented with many different styles of music,” she explains. “I’ve sung and played jazz, rock, classical music and worked extensively in musical theatre. I wanted to include pieces of everything I have learned on this record.”

Michelle has a unique instrument — a voice with all the warmth and velvet of a cabaret chanteuse, combined with the power and range of the trained singer. Her debut CD shows all these sides and more, a perfect melodic photograph of the development of an artist.

On ‘Dark River’ she re-invents fellow-Newfoundlander Ron Hynes’ country ballad as a shimmering torch song. ‘Sunshine Land’, a tune she co-wrote, is a bright ray of summery pop. Her reading of Elvis Costello’s ‘Baby Plays Around’ strips the lyric down to its essential emotional foundation, while her duet with rocker Cory Tetford on ‘The Way That
You Wanted Me’ highlights her ability to take any song and make it her own.

One of her favourite cuts on the CD is a tribute to Mary Chapin Carpenter, one of the female vocalists Michelle admires the most. “I am attracted to songs that tell a story, a story that I can relate to in some way,” she says. “Mary Chapin Carpenter’s ‘This Shirt’ was on the top of the list, a lyric that speaks to me on many different levels.”

Michelle Doyle was recorded at the Great Big Studio in St. John’s. It was produced by her older brother, Great Big Sea singer Alan Doyle. Musical accompaniment was provided by many of Michelle’s friends from both the Toronto and Atlantic Canadian music scenes, including pianist/bassist Keith Power, drummer Kris MacFarlane, guitarist Cory Tetford, and trumpeter Pat Boyle, as well as many other friends and
collaborators.