When Bruce Cockburn takes the Ottawa Folk Festival stage tonight, it will represent something of a full circle for the venerable Canadian songwriter, political activist, humanitarian and true north musical treasure.

Before embarking on an odyssey that would see him release some 26 albums over a nearly 40-year span, garnering numerous accolades -- including his 2001 induction into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame -- the Ottawa-born and raised Cockburn could be seen rubbing shoulders with the icons of Canada's '60s folk explosion at the legendary Le Hibou club.

That is, until he had to head back into the kitchen to finish a load of dishes.

"It started with hanging out there a lot, and I got to know the owners well enough that they hired me as a dishwasher," says the 64-year-old Cockburn.

"We were all hanging around there so much and we'd always play at open mics."

It was there that Cockburn cut his teeth playing his distinctive fingerstyle guitar to the coffeehouse crowd, and it was there that he met up with like-minded musicians to form seminal Ottawa band The Children.

"That's when the songwriting really started," says Cockburn, who flirted with mainstream success in various group incarnations before setting out on his own in the late '60s.

His first experience playing the folk festival circuit came in 1969, when he was asked to play a side stage at the Mariposa Folk Festival, only to be thrust into the main stage spotlight when the headliner took a gig at that little backwoods jamboree known as Woodstock.

On his most recent tour, Cockburn alternated between expansive outdoor stages, intimate club settings, even a run at Madison Square Garden.

"It doesn't matter how big the venue is, it doesn't matter how big the audience is. I feel comfortable as long as there's an audience that wants to listen," says Cockburn.

"It's not about the size of the audience, it's about the contact you have with whoever is there."

And there's no better way to make that connection than in the intimate and informal environs of the song circle, that heralded tradition of the folk fest scene.

Tomorrow, Cockburn will host Songs From the Road, a sit-down songwriters' circle with fellow festival headliners Joel Plaskett and Steven Page, and local songstress Ana Miura.

"From the audience point of view, the workshops offer an atmosphere of informality that you don't get in main stage concert situations," says Cockburn.

"We're all sitting there trading songs, and the great thing for the artist is you get introduced to these great people and great songs that you don't know."