GETTING OUT

Bruce Coughlan, the longtime singer and songwriter for the Canadian Celtic folk band Tiller's Folly, performs a solo concert at 3 p.m. Saturday at St. Germain's Episcopal Church, 600 N. Lake Cushman Road, Hoodsport.

Admission is the suggested donation of $15, but organizers say no one will be turned away.

For 26 years, Tiller's Folly has written and recorded songs that draw from Scottish, Irish and maritime traditions "to preserve a measure of the West's colonial history in stories and songs," according to the band's website.

You also catch Coughlan performing with the band Jan. 26 in Friday Harbor.

In a telephone interview with the Journal from his home east of Vancouver, British Columbia, the 62-year-old Coughlan said he has written dozens of songs about Northwest history "to preserve a measure of our folklore in song ... it's a bardic tradition that goes way back."

Growing up in the Vancouver area, Coughlan said his father played a lot of Irish and Scottish music at home. Coughlan recalled picking up the ukulele at 6, and "I just had a knack for it." That year, his father took him to concert featuring the Clancy Brothers, a quartet that played Irish folk songs and influenced Bob Dylan in New York City.

When his hands were large enough at age 10, Coughlan picked up the guitar and learned from a chord book. A couple years later, he was teaching chords with "different voices" to his music teacher, he said.

Tiller's Folly formed in the late 1990s because "I always wanted to play more Celtic music in a band," he said. "I was playing it solo."

The band was propelled by the popularity of "River Dance" and was originally a six-piece group with eight Irish dancers, Coughlan said.

For the Hoodsport concert, Coughlan will be playing his own compositions and traditional tunes. He said the show will be the first time be will be performing all the songs with an alternative chording called DADGAG.

Historical and tourism groups commission Coughlan to write songs highlighting their histories.

IF YOU GO

WHO: Singer/songwriter Bruce Coughlan

WHEN: 3 p.m. Saturday

WHERE: St. Germain's Episcopal Church, 600 N. Lake Cushman Road, Hoodsport

ADMISSION: Suggested donation $15; no one turned away

INFORMATION: 360-877-5862