It is
only in
appearance
that
time is
a river.
It is
rather a
vast
landscape
and it
is the
eye of
the
beholder
that
moves.
Thornton
Wilder
(1897 -
1975) US
"playwright,
novelist"
Celt In
A Twist:
To
celebrate
their
ten year
anniversary,
Tiller’s
Folly
has
released
a new
album
called
‘The
Rive So
Wide’.
Not only
does the
new disc
display
the
breadth
of their
Celtic
and
Roots
mastery,
it mines
the
depth of
songwriter,
Bruce
Coughlan’s
abilities.
Laurence
Knight
and good
friend
to Celt
In A
Twist is
on line
to tell
us more
about
the
album.
Congratulations
on the
disc,
Laurence.
Laurence
Knight:
Oh,
thank
you so
much,
Cal . It
actually
was an
album
that was
a long
time in
coming.
CT:
Whereas
in the
past the
Tillers
have
provided
an
in-depth
look at
the
pioneering
history
of our
province
with
tunes
like the
Steamboatin'
Jamiesons
and
MacPherson’s
Rant,
apart
from one
tale
about
the last
of the
Royal
Engineers,
the new
album
takes a
decidedly
more
personal
app
roach .
Is that
a fair
assessment?
LK: Yah,
I think
that's a
very
fair
assessment.
I think
it's
also
that we
really
wanted
to do a
CD that
would be
more
accessible
to
people
at
large.
And, our
regular
fans ...
their
initial
response
is that
they
love it
too.
CT:
This
album
more
than any
of the
previous
seems to
be
balanced
between
folk
roots
and
straight
on
country.
Is that
targeting
or just
coincidence?
LK: I
don't
know if
the
country
programmers
would
agree
with you
there,
Cal
(laughs)
but I
think
what we
were
trying
to do is
make a
record
of some
of the
genres
that we
really
love
ourselves
with a
modern,
fresh
app
roach .
We
looked
at some
of the
great
artists
that we
loved
like The
Beatles,
the Van
Morrisons,
the Rod
Stewarts,
and when
they
were
using
acoustic
instruments
like
fiddles
and
mandolins
and we
tried to
use them
as our
foil.
And,
that’s
one of
the
reasons
why we
brought
in
Steven
Drake
(The
Odds) to
help me
co-produce
the
record
and
Larry
Knechtel
(organ/piano
session
great)
to play
on it
because
he
played
on so
many of
those
records.
CT:
Who's
the
slide
player?
LK: Mr.
Eric
Reed and
he's a
lovely
player
...
CT:
Whoa,
incredible!
LK: He
actually
couldn't
travel
anymore
to so he
had to
leave
the band
but he
was with
us for
over
four
years.
CT: So,
that was
going to
be my
next
question.
You’re
obviously
a trio
now how
does
that
feel?
LK:
Well, it
feels
really
good but
for our
past few
shows
and the
ones
coming
up in
the area
we're
using
the
drummer
from the
record,
Chris
Nordquist
and he
and I
have
been
playing
together
for
close to
thirty
years
now.
He's
just an
incredible
guy and
it adds
a new
level of
energy.
We took
him to
Scotland
with us,
our
fourth
trip and
the
people
over
there
just
went
crazy!
CT: As a
bass
player
it's
important
to you
to have
a good
drummer,
right?
LK: Oh
yah ...
and
Chris is
one of
the best
and what
he has
is that
sensitivity
not to
bury
acoustic
instruments.
CT:
You’ve
got your
Celt In
A Twist
and
we’ve
got
Laurence
Knight
from The
Tiller’s
Folly on
the line
to talk
about
their
new 10
year
anniversary
album,
The
River So
Wide.
Keep up
with
their
busy
tour
schedule
at
www.tillersfolly.com
.
Laurence,
what’s
the
routine
for you
guys at
this
point,
do you
email it
in or
physically
get
together
to work
out
tunes?
LK: When
we're
working
on new
stuff,
Bruce (Coughlan)
or Nolan
( Murray
) will
do some
demos
and then
we will
get
together
and work
on the
tunes
from
there.
Actually,
for the
recent
work on
Nolan's
record
we got
together
and did
the
demos
and then
recorded
the
tunes
again
with a
pretty
illustrious
cast.
But,
we'll
tell you
more
about
that
later!
CT:
Bruce
sure is
prolific.
I mean
his solo
album is
wonderful
too.
LK: Oh
yah! You
know we
were
just
commissioned
to write
a song
for next
year's
celebration
of the
Simon
Fraser
expedition.
It's the
200th
anniversary
in 2008.
And
that's
going to
be
coming
out soon
for
people
to
listen
to and
that's
and
incredible
song. We
managed
to get
one of
the very
famous
uilleann
pipe
players
from
Ireland
to play
on that
. But
again,
more
news on
that
will be
coming
in the
future.
CT:
Well,
you're
anticipating
my
questions
here all
the
time,
Laurence;
I had
wanted
to ask
you if
you were
still
going to
uncover
the
great
pioneering
stories
of
British
Columbia
.
Because,
that
really
makes
your
band
unique I
think.
LK:
Thank
you, Cal
. I hope
people
here
locally
anyway
can
appreciate
that
it's
quite a
service
that
Bruce is
doing
for us
all in
his
continued
historical
searches.
He's
really
bringing
a lot of
our
history
to life.
CT:
Well, I
think
anybody
who
comes to
this
country
for the
first
time
should
be
handed a
copy of
one of
your
albums
as
required
listening.
LK:
Thanks
you,
Cal!
And,
thank
you for
your
continued
support.
You are
such a
great
supporter
of music
and the
arts in
our
wonderful
city,
man and
it's
appreciated.
CT:
Well,
it's my
pleasure.
We’re
going
out on
one of
my
favorites
from the
new
album.
The
opener
which
has a
distinctive
proto-punk
Green
Day feel
to it.
Tell us
about
the
inspiration
behind
Take
Pride.
LK:
Bruce's
son,
Liam was
ten
years
old and
he's
kind of
the
proverbial
square
peg in a
round
hole at
school.
And,
Bruce
was
trying
to find
something
he could
say to
him to
give him
some
inspiration.
So, this
was
written
by Bruce
for his
son,
Liam and
I think
it's an
appropriate
message
for any
of us.
Laurence
Knight
was
interviewed
by Cal
Koat on
September
18th/07
for
broadcast
on Celt
In A
Twist,
AM 1470,
CJVB
