Inspired by the works of famed American-British travel-writer Bill Bryson – and zigging around the idea of a good old-fashioned “road trip” – Canadian folk-rock icon Alan Doyle set off recently for the windswept coastlines and ancient Viking villages of his beloved home province, Newfoundland and Labrador.

The result? His new book: The Smiling Land. Part travelogue, part emotional colonic, it lovingly covers the people and locales of a place that was both Britain’s oldest colony and Canada’s newest province – and that took place, he says, “just in my parents’ childhood.”

It’s almost like his whole life was leading up to this book, in so many ways. As one of the most famous Newfoundlanders in the country, and one of its de facto ambassadors, his iconic band Great Big Sea unabashedly leans into the Celtic vibrations of “The Rock,” as it’s known. He’s also rhapsodized about the place in previous books, like his memoir Where I Belong, and it was very much a part of his maiden theatrical production, Tell Tale Harbour – and the multi-hyphenate star has even introduced its charms to some of his famous friends, like Russell Crowe (the pair have written songs together and co-starred in Robin Hood and Winter’s Tale). 

“This book, for me, was a chance to rediscover my own backyard. I have spent 30-odd years on the road talking about what a great place Newfoundland is, and I wanted to really take a closer look,” he explains, adding, “A lot of places were built on the fisheries, and a lot isn’t that anymore – has not been for 25, 30 years. I thought I would go look to see what makes these places tick now. What are these towns doing now? It is just one of the questions I try to answer in the book.”

The whole thing became a family journey, actually. And in exploring this idea of reinvention of Newfoundland, he says he and his family were reinvented, too, in the way they were able to spend so much quality time together. “My son was almost 18 when we started doing it, and he is 20 now.” 

When it comes to the places they visited, Doyle says, there were a few he’d never been to before: “Port au Choix, halfway up the northern peninsula (north of the UNESCO heritage site Gros Morne National Park). “My god, I was so charmed by the coast.”

Likewise, “I had never been to Bonavista,” he added. “It’s one of those places that competed with St. John’s to be the capital, or most significant place, in Newfoundland. And they say it sticks out so far in the ocean you have to come back in to fish.” 

“That whole tip” – a peninsula on the east coast of the island – “is a magical tourism destination now.”

Stories abound in The Smiling Land, but I also wanted to know about the literary narratives that are swimming around in Doyle’s own head. With his heart on his sleeve, and a song in his step, he happily filled us in!

What’s the best book you’ve read this year?

I spent my summer developing a musical in Charlottetown, and for the first time – this might shock some people – I read Anne of Green Gables. I had never read it. It is stunning! It is striking, like a Charles Dickens thing, but set in Atlantic Canada. Just wonderfully, wonderfully crafted.

What book can’t you wait to dive into?

I am a sucker for the Newfoundland books, and there is a new Michael Crummey novel  that I have not read yet, The Adversary. I like his books a lot – they are often wonderfully melancholic.

What’s your favourite book of all time?

A Prayer for Owen Meany [by John Irving]. My favourite!  

What book completely changed your perspective?

Bill Bryson’s Down Under: Travels in a Sunburned Country. It changed the way I thought about travel – and writing. My most inspirational books are all the Bill Bryson books. I think I have read all of them. The way he does observational writing: he does not try to cover everything, just what he sees and hears and feels. You feel like you have gone somewhere with him.

[Late Canadian NHL legend] Ken Dryden’s The Game, too. It made me think differently about teamwork.

If you could have dinner with any author, living or dead, who would it be?

I would love to pick John Irving’s brain. And, for someone dead, I would pick Shakespeare.