Founder of the award-winning Canadian roots music group Tiller’s Folly, Bruce Coughlan is setting course on a new adventure.
Part of the adventure is coming to the Filberg Festival in Comox on Aug. 5 at 3:45 p.m. on the Garden Stage.
“I’m proud of all the great work we’ve done over the last 20 years, and Tiller’s Folly will continue to be a big part of my creative life. It’s the longest run I’ve had with any band, and we’re by no means done yet.
“Music for me has always been like living in an adventure novel. It carries me away to another place, another time.”
He’s been doing it a long time.
“I’ve been writing and performing music since I was 13. Over the years, I’ve indulged in a number of creative tangents, re-inventing myself musically like a method actor immerses in a character. Discovering my own voice in another style is the ultimate musical adventure.”
Over the decades, Coughlan’s music has constantly evolved and morphed, never staying put too long in just one place.
“I guess you could say my primary interest is folk, at times I’ve dabbled in blues, soul, Celtic, bluegrass, rock, and even Latin, reggae, and calypso.”
Coughlan has recently launched a new website - www.songsmith.ca - detailing much of his colourful musical past.
“I’m emerging now as a solo performer, storyteller and compere.”
Tiller’s Folly is known throughout North America as a preeminent Americana/folk/Celtic group, recorded scores of songs and videos, performed in several different countries and their most recent recording, Stirring Up Ghosts Volumes 1 and 2, features 24 historically-based songs that cover the known and unknown stories of real people across the country and across more than a century.
Coughlan and the band have also been working on co-operative projects The Great Canadian Songbook (with tenor Ken Lavigne and Diyet) and Voices for the Salish Sea (along with The Wilds.)
For Coughlan, it’s all about making music, making new music.
“In a world filled with so much noise, music makes sense,” he says. “It puts me in the moment, where I feel like I belong.”
You can listen to Waiting for Rain at http://songsmith.ca/releases/waiting-for-rain/