With a moniker like Dr. Music, you would have to be the core of an expansive set of musical journeys, adventures and careers. A webbing, of sorts… an interlocking set of artistic highways and routes. It’s kind of a Canadian thing.
Like the prolific branches of a majestic maple, Canada is a treasure of some of the best musicians and artists. Second to none, they have influenced, supported, innovated, and inspired. They can’t help it — they come from a place of inspiration. A vastness of expression mirrored in the land’s stunning geography and natural grandeur.
Doug Riley was one of these Canadians. His influence, reach, artistry, and leadership introduced many of the best to the country and the world. Out of his musical universe came those who went on to other Canadian-based music places of fame and recognition: the likes of Don Thompson, Keith Jollimore and Bruce Cassidy. Riley collaborated with many artist including Ray Charles, Moe Koffman, Anne Murray, Gordon Lightfoot, Molly Johnson, and David Clayton-Thomas.
Canada is a small country by population, but it’s massive by geography, and its arts reflect and represent that. This has gifted the country with a healthy creative artistic treasure chest, like a beautiful music box, for a defined and focused sound of passionate expression. Riley played, created, built, and composed in that all-Canadian music box. Inspired, he was an inspiration personified. Canadian-rooted, making music, as big as the country is wide.