The youngest of six children, pop singer-songwriter Max Boyle was surrounded by music growing up in Maumee. He heard his siblings performing for much of his life.
“All of them did something musically, so I wanted to be like them a little bit growing up,” Boyle says. “I always sang to myself, but I didn’t sing in public for a long time. Eventually, I put up a YouTube video of myself singing as a junior in high school, and it got a good response.” He joined a gospel choir, began studying guitar more intensively (he had already been playing since he was eight years old) and decided that he wanted to pursue a career in music.
Since then, the young singer has made a name for himself performing in venues throughout Northwest Ohio, most often frequenting the Durty Bird, Local Thyme in Whitehouse, Buster Browns in Maumee, Ye Olde Cock N’ Bull, and the Hollywood Casino. Boyle is currently playing four shows a week with no sign of slowing down. His most recent single, a heartbreak anthem called “Always,” was released in early May.
Big boy breakup
It was a puppy love break up that first motivated Boyle to start writing songs in college, where he earned his chops playing on and around the University of Dayton campus. Once he started writing, he became immersed in the process and has made singles— some upbeat love songs, other slow pop ballads— that explore how relationships are ever-shifting and how those experiences have shaped him.
Boyle explains that “Always” was inspired by his “first big-boy breakup. It’s about knowing you’ll always love that person, but sometimes you have to go your separate ways. It’s not that we didn’t love each other; our futures just didn’t line up.”
The song is in keeping thematically with many of his other singles, like his first— “Save Me”— though since it was released in 2017, both his sound and lyrics have grown more complex and sophisticated. Boyle uses another early release— “College Party Anthem”— as an example of how he’s grown as an artist.
“It was a fun song, but the way we recorded it was not studio quality,” he says. “I would never consider ‘College Party Anthem’ my sound…it’s kind of country. My pop, folky music is more representative of what I do [in terms of lyrics and production].” Boyle records with Brett Dennison at Firefly Studios in Toledo, and he’s hoping to have another single— maybe even an album— released in the near future. “I have a ton of songs ready to go,” Boyle says. “I’ve just got to put them out there.”
Max Boyle is on the road until July
Follow him on facebook.com/max.boyle9
and Instagram at maxboylemusic to keep up to
date on his upcoming shows in the Toledo area.
