Vancouver-area Celtic Canadiana trio hopes to spin Yukon stories into song at Atlin’s Arts & Music Festival
“It’s been an amazing journey,” says guitarist Bruce Coughlan. “One of the unique things that we do is that I compose songs about specific Canadian history – the history, the culture, the places and the stories.”
Tiller’s Folly has morphed through a few iterations since its inception 28 years ago. Originally starting as a six-piece band with eight Irish dancers, the group now operates primarily as a trio with singer and guitarist Bruce Coughlan who is backed by bassist Laurence Knight and fiddle and mandolin player Nolan Murray. Together, the three document Canadian historical moments through their music.
“It’s been an amazing journey,” says Coughlan. “One of the unique things that we do is that I compose songs about specific Canadian history – the history, the culture, the places and the stories.”
Tiller’s Folly’s initiative, which they call Stirring Up Ghosts, began as an educational show about B.C. history and culture, presented in schools over two decades ago.
“Back in the day, we did hundreds and hundreds of schools throughout the province, effectively reaching an entire generation of Pacific Canadians,” Coughlan says.
While Coughlan has always been interested in history, he says the ideas for songs find him, rather than him finding them. As a career musician for 50 years, he’s travelled around more than most.
“If you’re stuck in some northern town for a week, what do you do with your days?” he says. “Well, I’d go to second-hand book stores or museums, or that sort of thing. The local heritage sites always piqued my interest.”
Identifying as a Celtic, Coughlan says his 13 previous tours of Scotland have inspired him to explore the history of his home of B.C. more. “A lot of our early pioneers were from Scotland,” he says. “They came with the Hudson’s Bay Company.” Preserving stories through music is part of the Celtic tradition Coughlan keeps close.
“I find it’s a very interesting way to preserve bits of our history and culture because each song is only three-and-a-half minutes long,” he explains. “You have to put into perspective what was happening when you look at the bigger picture surrounding the song. It’s quite interesting; it opens your eyes.”
Recently, Coughlan has been compiling nearly 30 years of songs, stories and media to go along with them into a new website, causing him to look back at the history of his own work and gain a new perspective on that too. In sharing stories from B.C. to other corners of the country and beyond, Coughlan has one simple hope.
“I hope they feel the same way that I do when I hear a Maritime songwriter tell stories about their history and culture,” he says. “I think that’s wonderful. All Canadians, we should identify with the artists that project who we are and where we came from.”
Though they haven’t played in Whitehorse, Dawson City or any other Yukon communities – at least not yet, as Coughlan says he hopes to eventually – Tiller’s Folly is part of this year’s Atlin Arts & Music Festival, taking place in the northern B.C. community from July 11 to 13. They have played the festival before, are happy to be back and are thrilled that the festival itself is back.
“It’s been a long, hard climb back from COVID,” says Coughlan. “It’s been five years. For me, it basically destroyed a 45-year career … just absolutely took it away. It’s been five years getting back to the pre-COVID rhythm of things, so it’s great, especially for the arts. Arts and festivals, that’s how we get together as a community. Otherwise, people are all staring at their phones; they’re all just satellites.”
With an EP titled Way Out West, which came out last December, and a summer of national touring starting up, Coughlan is ready to go fully into show mode. But he’s always writing songs and finding new ideas, and that much is not looking to change.
“It’s sort of a return to the start of the ‘Ghost’ initiative,” Coughlan says of the new EP. “We sort of went down a rabbit hole … It was called Nashville. We spent three years [being] managed out of the southern states and travelled around to all the top bluegrass and Americana venues, and engaged with a lot of the artists down there, and it was an amazing, amazing time. Now, we’re back to our Pacific roots.”
In perpetually being receptive to new ideas, stories and tidbits of history to build music off of, Coughlan says he hopes to be introduced first-hand to some Yukon history this summer.
“If any of your readership out there is involved in history or heritage and would like to flag me down after a set at the Atlin festival, I would love to hear more about that part of our province and the Yukon,” he says. “It’s still Pacific Canada.”
To keep up with Tiller’s Folly music and tour dates, visit tillersfolly.com. To learn more about the Stirring Up Ghosts initiative and discover Coughlan’s collection of historical stories, visit stirringupghosts.ca.
