Eddy takes on role close to his heart - newspaper article on Eddy Boyle

 Published Warrnambool Standard August 19 2023

Warrnambool musician Eddy Boyle is using his own experience of living with disabilities to help others make venues and events more accessible to everyone.The harmonica player and singer-songwriter supported by a band will perform at Hotel Warrnambool on Sunday, August 20, for three 45 minute sets from 3pm.Boyle, who lives with a vision impairment and mild cerebral palsy, was appointed the Music Victoria disability ambassador earlier this.He will play a pivotal role in promoting inclusivity and accessibility within the blues music community across the state. BMV is a peak industry body representing blues clubs, venues, festivals, media, industry services and suppliers in Victoria. Boyle said his role would include making sure festivals and events were accessible to all-abilities. "You need to make festivals and organisers more aware of that," he said. "Sometimes it gets swept under the carpet a bit." Boyle said his disabilities had not impacted his music career. "Yeah the disability is there but when I step on the stage you just do what you do and you don't think about it," he said. Boyle has been interested in music since he was four years old."I heard She's Tough by Jerry McCain and decided then and there I wanted to be a blues musician," he said. He undertook harmonica lessons with south-west musician Andrew Flook from the age of 11. When he was 17, Boyle decided to "keep going" with music, now having played professionally for almost two decades. "I bumped into a harmonica player, (the now late blues musician) Chris Wilson, who was one of the top guys in Australia - he took me further." Boyle said he has performed alongside Joe Camilleri and the Black Sorrows 13 times. He said his appearance with Grammy-nominated American blues singer and songwriter Eric Bibb during Warrnambool's Find Your Voice Collective all abilities choir performance at the 2023 Port Fairy Folk Festival was also a highlight. "I was a little bit nervous but you just get in there and do what you do," Boyle said. Boyle said Bibb said to him 'young man, you played really well'. "That meant the world to me," Boyle said.