Doug Yoel

Doug Yoel

Distinctive singer/songwriter Doug Yoel has been on a life-long quest of personal discovery and musical growth. A folk-rocker to the core, Doug’s lyrics are personal and introspective, often attempting to reconcile dreams of love and dreams of life, also childhood ideals with the modern reality. His recent songs, such as “So.. I Want You” and “Yellow Light” speak to the yearning for love, inner peace and a simpler tomorrow.

With a sound built around his finger-style acoustic and electric guitar and expressive vocal delivery, Doug infuses his vintage folk-rock with a dose of Americana and outlaw country; strains of blues, reggae and old-school soul and r&b; all forms of psychedelic; even bits of punk and 80’s new wave. Sometimes evident is Doug’s close relationship with the avant garde, jazz and art music.

Doug Yoel returned with a new digital EP in November 2008 – the Yellow Light / So.. I Want You EP, released nationally on Kindred Rhythm. Doug’s reappearance on record and stage follows a hiatus of nearly four years.

The last four years have found Doug co-producing projects for others – an effort that has garnered an impressive 4 Grammy Nominations. His most recent production, A Life in Time – The Roy Haynes Story, received a Jazz Journalist’s Award in the US, and a Victoires Du Jazz, the French equivalent of a Grammy.

Doug Yoel claims to have been raised by records. His parents split in his early childhood, and the introverted young Doug lost himself in records – Beatles, 70’s folk-rock, a little bit of country, and a whole lot of Motown. “I hung on every note and every word. And I read every liner note. I had some great music teachers as a kid, but really my teachers were people like James Taylor, Bob Dylan, Jackson Browne and John Lennon.”

By the time he was 10, Doug had become a capable guitarist; an enthusiast of sound-on-sound recording (using a Craig open-reel deck from the 60’s); and an avid record collector with a penchant for making compilations (“I was the mix-tape king!” he brags). At 14, he took his first job in music, working as a roadie and guitarist for a local club-date band. At 16, Doug began working for WBAB, a popular rock station on Long Island. He was the original producer of The Opie Show (later to go national as Opie and Anthony), impersonating Bob Dylan, and contributing dozens of song parodies to the show.

After a few years in comedy, Doug returned to his original love – acoustic based folk-rock – and worked the NY area coffee houses, while finishing a music degree. After graduating from Five Towns College, he took a job for an independent jazz/electronic label, and began working on Broken English Poem (IGP Records, 2002), his first official release. Well-received in the New York market, Doug maintained a residency at the Vintage Café in Greenwich Village (with fellow Kindred Rhythm artist Neil Cavanagh) through 2002 and 2003. Work on a new album began in 2003, but was halted the following year after a series of misfortunes (including the loss of some of the albums multi-track tapes). Following the death of one of the album’s musicians, the project was revived, and finally released as the Yellow Light / So.. I Want You EP. The EP was a Top 10 New Release on eMusic’s Singer-Songwriter chart following its release in late 2008.

Doug Yoel made his return to performing in May 2009, when he appeared at the Woodstock Tribute to Bob Dylan, where he shared the stage with folk greats Happy Traum and Tim Moore, and Kindred Rhythm label mates Andy Friedman and Neil Cavanagh. (NoDepression.com selected the live video clip of Doug performing “Shelter From The Storm” at the Woodstock tribute as ‘ONE OF OUR FAVES’ in June 2009). That same month, Doug appeared on-stage in New York with jamband Gent Treadly – the former backing band for the Grateful Dead’s Vince Welnick, who appear on Doug’s recording “Yellow Light”. Doug made several other solo appearances throughout the summer, and made a guest appearance on back-up vocals with the Woodstock All-Stars in Athens, NY – sharing the stage with David Malachowski, Tony Levin, Pete Levin, Machan Taylor, Gary Burke and other greats. Doug is currently working on a new single and EP in Woodstock, with more shows planned for the winter.