Alan Doyle

Alan Doyle— actor, producer, best-selling author, and best-known as lead singer for Newfoundland’s beloved Great Big Sea these past 20+ years— hardly needs an introduction. With five solo albums under his belt, Doyle has been touring the world with his ace six-piece band for the last decade. In late 2014, Doyle released his best-selling memoir Where I Belong, followed by A Newfoundlander In Canada released in October 2017, and All Together Now released in November 2020. Amidst these projects, Doyle found time to write music for and appear on CBC’s Republic of Doyle, guest on CBC’s Murdoch Mysteries, a role in 2014’s Winter’s Tale and 2010’s Robin Hood. With his 2022 live album Here, Tonight and a recent JUNO nomination for his 2021 album Back to the Harbour, Doyle chalks up a lot of where he is right now to luck. “I’m the luckiest guy I’ve ever even heard of,” he says. “This was all I ever wanted, a life in the music business, singing concerts.”

Doyle hails from Petty Harbour, NL, and formed Great Big Sea in 1993 with Sean McCann, Bob Hallett, and Darrell Power, in which they fused traditional Newfoundland music with their own pop sensibilities. Their nine albums, double-disc hits retrospective, and two DVD releases have all been declared Gold or Platinum and have sold a combined 1.2 million copies in Canada.

Singer-songwriter Adam Baldwin has been a mainstay of the Atlantic Canada music scene for over a decade. With his sophomore full-length, Concertos & Serenades, Adam Baldwin – born and raised “inside these imaginary lines” that denote Nova Scotia – offers an east coast testimony that challenges the typical tourism marketing gloss. Through eight masterful yarns, the songwriter bears witness and pays tribute to a tradition of desperation: sinners and losers, perpetual failures, and down-and-out phantoms that haunt his home’s coastlines and back roads – without a passing judgement. Some of the tales happened, some didn’t, and most walk a tightrope between truth and fiction.

Starting as a member of rock combo Gloryhound before joining Matt Mays & El Torpedo in 2009, Baldwin’s own music has continued to evolve since his award winning self-titled solo debut EP in 2013. In 2016 Baldwin released his first full length album No Telling When (Precisely Nineteen Eight-Five) featuring the singles “Daylight” and “Anytime.” In 2019 he released the follow up No Rest for the Wicked, including “Salvation” and “Dark Beside the Dawn.” In March 2020, with in person performances impossible due to COVID-19, Baldwin launched his Cross-Country Chin Up concert series, almost every Friday evening on YouTube. In addition to making this weekly opportunity to connect virtually with fans, he also raised funds for the Mental Health Foundation of Nova Scotia, Red Cross Stronger Together Nova Scotia Fund, RCMP Fallen Officer Fund, and the Black Cultural Society for Nova Scotia. The online concert series also produced two digital EPs: Chin Up Sessions (originals) and Songs for the Parlour (covers).