Derrick Weidner and Olivia Doyle will perform live music at 4:30 p.m. on July 7 in People’s Park. The show will be free and open to the public as part of the People’s Park concert series.
The duo is local to Bloomington and began performing together in their seventh-grade show choir at Edgewood Junior High School. They continued performing throughout high school and officially started their duo in 2020 as sophomores, just before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Doyle said they spent the first portion of quarantine honing their act and their first performance as a duo was in the People’s Park series in 2020. They returned to the series in 2021, making their upcoming show their third straight appearance.
The two graduated from Edgewood High School in 2022. Doyle will be studying political science and psychology at IU beginning in the fall and Weidner has plans to take a gap year.
Weidner said his musical beginnings were humble, playing on toy instruments at the beginning of his career.
“I’ve been playing music since I was about 14,” Weidner said. “I played on a little kids’ ukulele for a while and I played a couple gigs with that and then I upgraded to a guitar when I was looking for more sound.”
The group takes influence from a wide range of musicians spanning a number of genres. Doyle said Stevie Nicks, Linda Ronstadt and Olivia Rodrigo are some of her inspirations, and Weidner listed Johnny Cash, Tyler Childers and Colter Wall. Doyle said this swath of influences allows the duo to have a unique sound.
“Our voices apart sound very different, but when we’re put together it blends and creates this really beautiful harmony,” Doyle said. “When we’re singing, everyone knows it’s us. We have very unique voices.”
They said their People’s Park set will mostly feature covers, but they will play a couple of original songs as well. Their limited body of work so far is all written by Weidner, but Doyle has also begun writing for the duo. They said they look forward to the days when their sets contain more of their own work.
“Hopefully in time we’re able to add more originals to the shows so we can have more of it be our show rather than covering other people’s work,” Doyle said.
Information about their other upcoming shows can be found on Weidner’s website.
Both members have high hopes for their People’s Park show and are looking forward to giving their audience a thrilling experience.
“We’re both powerhouse performers,” Doyle said. “I think people leave our shows impressed at our dedication to the music and we have lots of fun on stage.”
