Irish ‘Mutts’ Harbor Full-Blooded Love of Genre : Music: Caislean, a trio from Atlanta, brings its ‘lucrative hobby’ of traditional fare to the San Juan Capistrano Library.

So how does a construction inspector for the city of Atlanta, who used to be a blues musician, find himself playing fiddle in an Irish traditional band?

“It was a spiritual experience following an Elvis sighting,” explained John Westerfield, a member of Caislean, a trio that plays the San Juan Capistrano Library tonight at 7 and 9.

Getting serious just for a moment, Westerfield said he fell in love with Irish music the first time he heard it on the radio. “I had never known what real traditional Irish music was until sometime in the mid-’70s,” he recalled on the phone from his home in Georgia. “Ever since then, I’ve been pursuing it.”

A guitarist since the late ‘60s, he got his first fiddle 10 years ago and formed a band called Celti Ceili with some like-minded Georgians. The group released two albums and played numerous folk and Irish festivals around the United States.

Caislean (pronounced koshlun; it is the Irish word for castle) is a stripped-down version of the earlier band, with Whit Wright on guitar, bouzouki, bodhran (an Irish drum) and vocals, and Susan Clearman on accordion. They draw on numerous Celtic styles and forms from as far back as the 18th Century, including airs, ballads, jigs and reels.

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Westerfield said the band members are driven more by a love of the music than by any personal connections or Irish roots. “I think we’re mostly mutts. I know I am,” he said, noting that as far as he knows, his ancestry includes Germans and Scots as well as Irishmen.

“I’m Celtic and Teutonic,” he said. “I like to get drunk and obey orders.”

Caislean plays festivals throughout the year, but March is the big touring season. “St. Paddy’s Day is the big bread-and-butter time for us,” Westerfield said. The feast-and-famine nature of the Irish music business means that he needs to keep his day job, but he said that only makes the music all the more enjoyable.

“Music’s not like work. It’s more or less a lucrative hobby for me.”

Elsewhere on the Irish music front, popular local group Paddy West returns to Orange Coast College on Saturday for its 13th annual St. Patrick’s Day celebration. The traditional group features George Cavanaugh, Mark Romano and Mary Kelly, who play a variety of instruments.

* Caislean plays tonight at 7 and 9 at the San Juan Capistrano Library, 31495 El Camino Real, San Juan Capistrano. $3. (714) 493-1752. Paddy West plays Saturday at 8 p.m. in the Fine Arts Recital Hall at Orange Coast College, 2701 Fairview Road, Costa Mesa. $9-$11. (714) 432-5880.