Great Big Sea's Alan Doyle has offered up more details on actor-turned-singer-turned-phone-thrower Russell Crowe's surprise hour-long concert in St. John's last week.

Doyle, who co-wrote and produced Crowe's first solo album, My Hand My Heart, said the impromptu performance sprang out of the two being in the U.S. south at the same time.

"I was with him in Nashville and he offered to drive me home -- he had a plane so it only took a day," Doyle told the Sun at the Live 8 Canada press conference in Toronto this week.

"And when we got to St. John's, he said, 'Hey, we should jump on stage in one of these pubs and sing some songs.' And that was it, and we did. He loved St. John's too. We had a great time."

Doyle, whose band is playing Live 8 Canada at Barrie's Park Place on July 2, added that Crowe is holding up following his arrest in New York earlier this month after a phone-toss incident.

"He's doing good, yeah," said Doyle. "He's got a great mom and dad and a great family, and a lot of support from his friends, so yeah, he's doing okay. He wants to put it behind him and wants to see it in his past."

Doyle and Crowe met backstage in Toronto last summer after a Great Big Sea concert when the actor was in town shooting Cinderella Man.