Folk music tells the stories of people and places, and Canada's James Keelaghan is certainly that kind of storyteller. Seventeen years after his first album, he has established himself as a singer songwriter with an international following and a compelling ability to tell the stories of himself and his land.
Keelaghan will share his experiences with the Coast on April 13 with a 2 p.m. concert at Pender Harbour Music Society's Performance Centre.
He always knew he'd pursue either music or theatre as a career, but he studied history at the University of Calgary just in case. Eventually music just took over, but it's Keelaghan's passion for history that has inspired some of his most celebrated songs, witness Jenny Bryce, Red River Rising and Cold Missouri Waters.
In 1997, the Juno award winner embarked on a collaborative project - Compadres, with Latin guitarist Oscar Lopez, on the Vancouver-based record label Jericho Beach Music. Fusing Latin and Celtic music into a new style they called "celtino," the duo played to excited audiences across North America, including a live performance at Lincoln Center. The Compadres album was voted album of the year by the readers of Vancouver's Rogue Folk bulletin.
Keelaghan tours extensively in the U.S., Europe and Australia and performed at the 30th anniversary of Denmark's Tønder Festival. He was the first Canadian to play the Hong Kong Festival in 1995.
A commanding performer, Keelaghan develops an intimate rapport with audiences through his stories and humour and then leaves them spellbound with passionate renditions of songs that touch on universal emotions and relate historical events to the present. Tickets for his show are $20, available at John Henry's in Garden Bay, Harbour Insurance in Madeira Park and Talewind Books in Sechelt.
