Alan a' Foal is an obvious alusion to Alan a' Dale, the minstrel from the Robin Hood legends.
Alan a' Foal seems to have been blessed with many gifts. Not only can his virtuosic play with the violin / fiddle and many other instruments make ponys laugh, cry, dance and basically be caught up with any emotion he translates into notes, but he also has a once in a generation type of singing voice and good looks. In short he could be an absolute star of the stages. However after only a brief formal musical education on "the continent" (as Equestrian mainland may be called by the ponys of the Griffish Isles) he returned to Trottingham to perform for the ponys there rather than blowing the minds of audiences on any grand stages of Canterlot or other large towns.
For all his talent Alan a' Foal has a strong melancholic streak. It is a bit of an open secret in Trottingham that Alan a' Foal has been courting Maid Mareian, a pagasus mare (there are very few pegasi left on the Griffish Isles after the prohibition of pegasi weather controll as part of the Treaty of Trottingham signed 27 years before the events of our group's adventure) living in a cabin at the edge of Shetland Forest. Most ponys think of Alan's melancholy as a result of his courting being unsucessful.
That's all that I can write about him at this point without revealing any spoilers to the players of the group ;)
As always, here is also a version of the above image without reduced opacity.