We were lucky to catch up with Edward Doyle recently and have shared our conversation below.
Edward, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being an artist or creative force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?
I think there is a great mis-conception when it comes to being a “creative” or an “artist” in terms of a persons’ identity. I can speak for many when I say that there are so many “undiscovered” artists who just don’t have the luxury of time or opportunity to pursue their talents. While it may be the path that if given the chance, I would pursue with my whole heart, it is not always the day to day reality. As someone with a gift for creativity in the musical space, I’ve been able to balance a full time professional career in business with my personal passion for creativity and artistry in the music industry. On one hand it’s a dream, it’s a passion, and it’s a raw outlet for emotions. On the other hand, it’s just a small facet of my daily life. For me there has always been a dream that writing and performing music could be a full time career. I’ve been happy to settle for the tens of thousands of worldwide listeners, the house shows, the open mics, and concerts where even just five people show up. To me, even the smallest show makes me feel incredibly grateful that other people enjoy my songs and writing. Either way, at 8AM, I’m hopping back on the daily zoom call for my business and hardly free till late in the evening.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
So some background on me; I was raised in Marietta, Georgia. A child born into a very musical family, music became a passion as I explored different sounds using my ear and experimentation with various instruments, eventually teaching myself guitar. In 2017 I began truly writing my own music and recording. This soon turned into producing my own song covers for fun, but it wasn’t until 2018 that I finally recorded and released my very first original song, influenced and encouraged by a college friend. Since that time I have recorded multiple other original singles and my first EP “On My Own”. My passion for music stems from my love of both listening to, and performing a plethora of genres. For me, the most important thing I want my listeners to hear and understand through my music is that while all written from my own personal experiences, it is poetically relatable to their own lives and experiences as well.
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
Support yourself. Support your own artistic dreams, and the dreams of those around you. I believe strongly that we all have a creative and artistic side whether we know it or not. It may look different for each of us, but one thing that I’ve learned is that we cannot just be defined by our college degree, or lack thereof. We should not be defined by one “career” just because we took a job working in a specific industry or company. While our careers outside of our artistic expression are valuable to the world, we are all capable of artistic expression and that should be celebrated. Whether it’s in a strictly personal realm, or whether we choose to share our art with the world, I believe that we can create positive impact with our God given gifts that can bring joy and purpose to people around the globe that we have not or may never even meet. That to me is the power of sharing creativity, sharing artistic expression, particularly with music which by nature transcends language, geography, culture, and religion.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
The most rewarding aspect to me is hearing the direct impact my music has on those who listen. From random DM’s, to fan-mail, to the stranger who approaches me after a show or open mic. Hearing appreciation and hearing the story of how my music resonated with someone is just incredible. I remember a certain instance where I had written a song out of sorrow, translated it into poetry so that others could write their own stories into their listening experience, and a fan came up after the show and expressed how much joy and peace the lyrics brought him. It had nothing to do with the tragedy I wrote the song out of, but rather the interpretation I left open to the listener. To see people resonate with my music carries a special power and humbles me at the same time.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://songwhip.com/edward-doyle
- Instagram: @edwardAdoyle
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/edwarddoylemusic/
- Other: https://songwhip.com/edward-doyle