new release

Tiller’s Folly release their first new music in over a decade!

A Simply Extraordinary Life

Tiller's Folly

“A Simply Extraordinary Life” is a song that celebrates the extraordinary adventures Samuel Robertson; Orcadian, Hudson’s Bay Company servant, boat builder, carpenter, entrepreneur, publican, agriculturist, gold miner & historic figure, whose life spanned a dramatic transition of the region once known as New Caledonia, into a Colony of
“A Simply Extraordinary Life” is a song that celebrates the extraordinary adventures Samuel Robertson; Orcadian, Hudson’s Bay Company servant, boat builder, carpenter, entrepreneur, publican, agriculturist, gold miner & historic figure, whose life spanned a dramatic transition of the region once known as New Caledonia, into a Colony of Britain, and eventually into the westernmost province in the Dominion of Canada.

For over a quarter-century, Tiller’s Folly have been uniting past with present as modern-day storytellers of lore, singing the West’s pioneer history to life. From the outset, the band aspired to create acoustic music that is thoughtful, progressive, yet timeless in nature. Music that represents their Pacific Coastal home. They set out to preserve a measure of the West’s heritage in stories & songs. Drawing influence from Scottish, Irish and English Music traditions, they continue to refine their potent blend of Pacific Canadiana.

This song was commissioned by the British Columbia Farm Museum in Langley Township to commemorate the birth of agriculture in British Columbia. It was composed by Bruce Coughlan, who also drafted a short “Songumentary” to accompany the song, and to place the story in historic perspective. Samuel Robertson was one of the very first farmers on the north side of the Fraser River and his pre-emption included today’s Kanaka Creek Park, just a few blocks from Coughlan’s Maple Ridge home.
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