Patrick Dorie

The epigram on Patrick Dorie's Twitter account reads: A bio is best written by those who know and understand you. I hope that person never writes my bio. A typically self-effacing gesture from someone who most people are fond of within minutes of meeting him. Like many artists, Patrick is very shy off-stage. Especially when hes talking to girls. Hes super scared of girls. When he sings, though, his words take on a magical clarity of confidence, tone, and expression. Dorie has a captivating, distinctive voice. His songs are intricate and painstakingly constructed, and laced with a sly, sardonic wit that recalls the work of his musical heroes: Bob Dylan, The Band, Neil Young and M. Ward.
I grew up with Bob Dylan, says Patrick. I've always been surrounded by music. At Dorie Christmas parties, my uncle Ken would bring his guitar and everyone would play Tom Petty and Bob Dylan songs, three-chord music. A few years later, I set up a record player in the garage, and my dad gave me a copy of Blood on the Tracks. It's what made me want to become a singer/songwriter. Whenever I feel down on music, I put that record on and it reminds me why I do this.
Dorie grew up in a detached house at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac in Whitby, Ontario, a cookie-cutter bedroom community sandwiched between Toronto and the scraggly industrial city of Oshawa, where Dorie works and spends most of his time. His first experience as a performer was as a teenager, playing guitar in a blues-rock band called Nice Guy and the Jerks. I thought I had the blues back then, he says. Turns out I was just a teenager.
Though he credits his uncle with sparking his love of the guitar, it was the intervention of another artist years later that made him decide to take music more seriously. In 2005, Dorie began performing off-and-on at a weekly open-mic night at the Griffin Pub in Whitby. The open mic was run by Brad and Marylynne Stella, a husband-and-wife band better known to modern country fans as The Stellas and as the parents of musical wunderkinds Lennon and Maisy, who have earned a massive international following playing Maddie and Daphne on ABCs Nashville.
Brad pushed me all the time to come out and play more, says Dorie. They taught how to perform for other people, and how to be social...I grew up mostly inside my own head. The Stellas brought me out of my shell.
Over the next few years, Dorie slowly but surely built a catalogue of songs. He estimates that he writes and rejects about ten songs for each one he keeps. You go through phases, he says. I go through long lulls where I don't write anything, then suddenly I'll hit songwriter mode. It's never planned out, like 'I'm gonna write a song today.' It just happens. The songs that I sit down and plan to write are the ones I don't keep.
By 2011, Dorie had penned an album's worth of songs, and began to work on his debut release, Goodbye Expectations. With help from Brad Stella, he recorded the bulk of the instrumentals at a music school/studio/community hub in Whitby called The Music Scene, and in a small studio in Brooklyn, Ontario. By this point, The Stellas were based in Nashville, where they now reside. Brad brought Patrick down to Nashville for a week to record vocals and to mix the album. We were so busy I really didn't get to see much of Nashville, says Dorie. He only managed to take me out drinking the one night.
Up until this point, Dorie had performed exclusively as a solo acoustic artist, but as the CD release party for Goodbye Expectations approached, it became clear that he would have to assemble a backing band. Fortunately, he had already made friends with a number of talented musicians who were part of The Music Scene scene, including drummer Dan Brooks, guitarist Brendan Lawless and horn-player/multi-instrumentalist Tim Watson, who have since become Dorie's full-time collaborators, The Honest Thieves.
Since releasing Goodbye Expectations in February of 2012, Dorie has written a collection of new songs that will likely feature on his sophomore record. With The Honest Thieves' influence and support, his sound has slowly evolved from its stripped-down folk roots into a fascinating hybrid of country, psychedelic rock, neo-folk and traditional singer/songwriter forms. Dorie plans to tour extensively throughout 2013, bringing his music to audiences across Canada and the United States. Wherever he goes, both Patrick and his tunes can expect a warm reception. Despite the title of his debut record, expectations are very high indeed.