Aberdeen couple makes music together
Story By Rick Anderson
Photos by Rick Moyer
On the stage and off, Bill Leach and Sue Farrar are usually in perfect harmony. Described by Farrar as “partners in music and partners in life,’’ the Aberdeen couple are among the area’s most popular entertainers. They sing and play the guitar three or four times per month at a variety of venues, not only on Grays Harbor but in such far-flung locales as Ilwaco and Gig Harbor. Making music has a dual meaning for Leach. He manufactures his own guitars in the basement workshop of his home. Relative newcomers to the Harbor, the 64-year-old Leach and 66-year-old Farrar have somewhat dissimilar backgrounds and performance styles.
But a love of music is the common denominator in their lives, while their personal relationship helps them mesh easily on stage. “We complement each other in so many ways,” Farrar affirmed. Leach spent 23 years with the Boeing Company, primarily as an electrician and fabricator. Although he had intended to retire in the Tacoma area, he wound up migrating to Aberdeen three years ago. “The pace was so fast (in the Puget Sound area),” he said. “I wanted a place to chill out. When I found this place, I said ’this is it.’” Hailing from a musical family, he has been performing since he was a teen. Although an excellent singer, he is probably better known for his wizardry with the guitar. “What impresses me the most about Bill is he knows the guitar backwards and forwards,” Farrar said. “He plays by ear, and yet he also knows music theory and chord structure, and he can sit in with anyone and make them sound even more amazing. He is still challenging himself to be even better, a rare quality.”
A New England native, Farrar has experience in a variety of jobs — once even operating a martial arts studio in San Francisco. She arrived on the Harbor a year after Leach to live near her sister, noted Aberdeen watercolor artist Nancy Farrar-Coughlin, (featured in the Winter 2025 edition of Coastal Currents). It was her sister who introduced her to Leach. “She said, “I bet he’ll be able to help you in the music community here.’ She was right,” Farrar recalled. “We just clicked the moment we met and played together.” Farrar has also performed since childhood. She was trained in classical piano and gravitated primarily to jazz when she began singing in college. “She sings like a bird and she plays a heck of a piano,” Leach observed. “She just gets better and better every time we play.”
Leach’s musical tastes are more eclectic. He transitions easily between rhythm and blues, country, classic rock and roll, ballads and folk songs, in addition to jazz. “I love them all,” Leach said. “I wouldn’t play them if I didn’t love them. And I’m always learning a new song to add to the set.” He began building his own guitars while, during a hiatus from Boeing, he worked for Warmoth Guitar Products in Puyallup. An accomplished woodworker who also makes such items as picture frames, game boards and cribbage sets, he uses a variety of wood (including alder, maple, mahogany and poplar) in his guitars, which usually take more than a month to make. “He’s a craftsman, regardless of whether it’s a cribbage board or a guitar,” Farrar noted. Although most of his sales are of the word-of-mouth variety, some of Leach’s products are available at Guitar Galactica in Aberdeen. Leach said he is also looking forward to a future association with the Starlight Hi-Fi and Music Store in Ocean Shores. Leach and Farrar have performed in such diverse Twin Harbor venues as the Lake Quinault Lodge, Aberdeen’s Rediviva restaurant, the Oyhut Bay Resort in Ocean Shores and the Woo Hoo Winery near Raymond.
Their comfort level may be the highest, however, at the Red Cedar bar in the Vasa Hall on Hoquiam’s Riverside Avenue — a compact locale Leach refers to as their “home base.” “We love to play wherever we can,” he explained, “but the Red Cedar is like hanging out at home with your friends and having a big old sing-along.” A capacity crowd of about 20, many of them regulars at Leach-Farrar concerts, showed up at the Red Cedar for a mid-July performance conducted in three distinct segments. The program opened with several duets. Singing in a voice she describes as somewhere between high alto and low soprano, Farrar handled most of the vocals for such standards as “Walk On By,” “Cry Me a River” and “Fly Me to the Moon.” As Farrar moved off-stage, Leach soloed during the middle portion of the program. He covered songs originated by such varied artists as Johnny Cash, Jackson Browne, Ricky Nelson and the Mamas & the Papas. Farrar then rejoined her partner for the finale, appropriately closing with the 1967 hit “Happy Together.” The couple hadn’t finalized their fall performance schedule as of press time, but Leach said they are looking forward to doing some recordings and booking new shows in 2027.
That’s music to the ears of their Grays Harbor fans. For more information and up-to-date schedule, visit www.Leachbuilt.com.
Read More Stories
Photos by Rick Moyer
On the stage and off, Bill Leach and Sue Farrar are usually in perfect harmony. Described by Farrar as “partners in music and partners in life,’’ the Aberdeen couple are among the area’s most popular entertainers. They sing and play the guitar three or four times per month at a variety of venues, not only on Grays Harbor but in such far-flung locales as Ilwaco and Gig Harbor. Making music has a dual meaning for Leach. He manufactures his own guitars in the basement workshop of his home. Relative newcomers to the Harbor, the 64-year-old Leach and 66-year-old Farrar have somewhat dissimilar backgrounds and performance styles.
But a love of music is the common denominator in their lives, while their personal relationship helps them mesh easily on stage. “We complement each other in so many ways,” Farrar affirmed. Leach spent 23 years with the Boeing Company, primarily as an electrician and fabricator. Although he had intended to retire in the Tacoma area, he wound up migrating to Aberdeen three years ago. “The pace was so fast (in the Puget Sound area),” he said. “I wanted a place to chill out. When I found this place, I said ’this is it.’” Hailing from a musical family, he has been performing since he was a teen. Although an excellent singer, he is probably better known for his wizardry with the guitar. “What impresses me the most about Bill is he knows the guitar backwards and forwards,” Farrar said. “He plays by ear, and yet he also knows music theory and chord structure, and he can sit in with anyone and make them sound even more amazing. He is still challenging himself to be even better, a rare quality.”
A New England native, Farrar has experience in a variety of jobs — once even operating a martial arts studio in San Francisco. She arrived on the Harbor a year after Leach to live near her sister, noted Aberdeen watercolor artist Nancy Farrar-Coughlin, (featured in the Winter 2025 edition of Coastal Currents). It was her sister who introduced her to Leach. “She said, “I bet he’ll be able to help you in the music community here.’ She was right,” Farrar recalled. “We just clicked the moment we met and played together.” Farrar has also performed since childhood. She was trained in classical piano and gravitated primarily to jazz when she began singing in college. “She sings like a bird and she plays a heck of a piano,” Leach observed. “She just gets better and better every time we play.”
Leach’s musical tastes are more eclectic. He transitions easily between rhythm and blues, country, classic rock and roll, ballads and folk songs, in addition to jazz. “I love them all,” Leach said. “I wouldn’t play them if I didn’t love them. And I’m always learning a new song to add to the set.” He began building his own guitars while, during a hiatus from Boeing, he worked for Warmoth Guitar Products in Puyallup. An accomplished woodworker who also makes such items as picture frames, game boards and cribbage sets, he uses a variety of wood (including alder, maple, mahogany and poplar) in his guitars, which usually take more than a month to make. “He’s a craftsman, regardless of whether it’s a cribbage board or a guitar,” Farrar noted. Although most of his sales are of the word-of-mouth variety, some of Leach’s products are available at Guitar Galactica in Aberdeen. Leach said he is also looking forward to a future association with the Starlight Hi-Fi and Music Store in Ocean Shores. Leach and Farrar have performed in such diverse Twin Harbor venues as the Lake Quinault Lodge, Aberdeen’s Rediviva restaurant, the Oyhut Bay Resort in Ocean Shores and the Woo Hoo Winery near Raymond.
Their comfort level may be the highest, however, at the Red Cedar bar in the Vasa Hall on Hoquiam’s Riverside Avenue — a compact locale Leach refers to as their “home base.” “We love to play wherever we can,” he explained, “but the Red Cedar is like hanging out at home with your friends and having a big old sing-along.” A capacity crowd of about 20, many of them regulars at Leach-Farrar concerts, showed up at the Red Cedar for a mid-July performance conducted in three distinct segments. The program opened with several duets. Singing in a voice she describes as somewhere between high alto and low soprano, Farrar handled most of the vocals for such standards as “Walk On By,” “Cry Me a River” and “Fly Me to the Moon.” As Farrar moved off-stage, Leach soloed during the middle portion of the program. He covered songs originated by such varied artists as Johnny Cash, Jackson Browne, Ricky Nelson and the Mamas & the Papas. Farrar then rejoined her partner for the finale, appropriately closing with the 1967 hit “Happy Together.” The couple hadn’t finalized their fall performance schedule as of press time, but Leach said they are looking forward to doing some recordings and booking new shows in 2027.
That’s music to the ears of their Grays Harbor fans. For more information and up-to-date schedule, visit www.Leachbuilt.com.
Read More Stories
