When Keith Roberts thinks of great Irish rock bands that have tattooed his musical worldview, he instantly mentions The Pogues, the Waterboys, Rory Gallagher and, most enthusiastically, Big Country.

The critical snobs among us would no doubt take delight in pointing out that Big Country is actually Scottish. But Roberts — the singer/songwriter/leader of the Los Angeles-based Irish American Young Dubliners, who are headlining Old Saybrook's Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center on Friday — isn't talking geography as much as he's talking Celtic musical characteristics. Big Country, with guitarists Stuart Anderson and Bruce Watson creating massive walls of faux bagpipery, brought that flavor in epic and distinctive fashion.

"It came down to Celtic guitars playing rock records, and Big Country was incredibly powerful," says Roberts, a Dublin native, from his SoCal home last week. "Their first record did it for me, period. I'm not sure how else to say it. It was their stylistic mixture that hit me. I grew up with traditional Irish music always playing in the pubs, but we were totally into 'Top of the Pops' and what was happening in rock. It wasn't until I got to the States that I realized how much I missed the native Irish stuff."

Roberts moved to L.A. in the mid-80s and formed the Young Dubliners in 1988 with a mixture of native Irish and American players, which was a conscious strategy. Their sound is full-on guitar-based rock but with flourishes of snarling punk energy with plenty of native Irish instrumentation.

"I was a rock 'n' roll singer and songwriter, but at the same time I didn't want to ignore the Irish music I'd grown up with," Roberts says. "There were so many great American musicians and I liked what they were doing. We've tried our whole career not to force the Irish on the rock or vice versa. We have the players we have and we enjoy playing together, so we write the songs we write and we play them!"

Highlights of their recording career include "Breathe," "Real World," "With All Due Respect: The Irish Sessions," and their latest, 2013's excellent "9."

Of course, the Young Dubliners are certainly not the only Irish American rock band celebrating two musical cultures in one identity. In fact, there's quite a brotherhood across North America. Irish punk septet Flogging Molly also formed in Los Angeles in 1988 and, heading east, New York City's (in limbo) Black 47, Boston's Dropkick Murphys and Toronto's Enter the Haggis are all internationally touring forces.

Though the Young Dubliners have undergone the personnel changes one might expect of a band that's been around for three decades, the core group is still together and they continue to work the road steadily and to a consistent and fervent fan base. Current members, along with Roberts, are bassist/vocalist Brendan Holmes, guitarist/vocalist Bob Boulding, multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Chas Waltz, and drummer Dave Ingraham.

Roberts, whose conversational enthusiasm could be descibed as ebullient, talked about the band and their place in music. His replies have been edited for space.

On blending the Irish and American aspects and trying to please a record label:

It was very schizophrenic. The label obviously wanted AAA radio success and would say, "You need to write this or that." They liked the idea of what we were doing, but at the same time, it was like, "Follow your dreams and stick to your guns — and meanwhile copy this mainstream hit!" Well, God knows we let down a lot of (label artist and repertoire) guys who just didn't get the fiddle, because we DID stick to our guns.

On how the Young Dubliners finessed their sound:

We had fiddle and electric guitar playing riffs together; it was something unique but very much in the tradition of a rock band. We were staying true to the nature of rock songwriting but we had the whistles and fiddles because it's always been of interest to me how to blend all those things. We had to be careful with American audiences because it's true that if you're too Celtic you cut off one aspect of the audience. You get massive airplay throughout March and people go crazy on St. Patrick's Day, but on March 18 it's like the sound of crickets.

That's why the L.A. scene was so important to us. It enabled me to meet so many great American musicians who'd never played Irish music and we learned from each other. Now I'll write a complete rock song or Bob or Chaz, who are Americans, write totally authentic Irish instrumentals. It's become second nature to all of us, and in turn it's created a sound that's totally us.

On the fact that the Young Dubliners had a song that was once used in a Killian's Irish Red commercial — and whether Roberts scored a lot free beer out of the deal:

Oh, dear me, I certainly did. I literally had a garage full of Killian's Irish Red. What happened is that I got friendly with Pete Coors and his kid (owners of the Coors Brewery, which makes Killian's). They came to a show in Colorado. It was a good deal. For about five years we toured in a Killian's Irish Red tour bus. On the other hand, one can only have so much of one specific beer, and part of the contract was that we were only allowed to drink Coors products.

Well, one time, we came offstage and there were no Coors beers so we went to a pub and drank Guinness and someone went back and reported to Coors. They went all Sherlock Holmes on us! They were horrified and we were horrified that they knew. I said, "I'd have gladly had a Killian's if I coulda found one."

On longevity as a touring band:

We've had a very consistent ride, and to be able to get up before 4,000 people and rock the place all this time — that's what I'm proudest of. And if we didn't love doing it, we couldn't pull it off. You know, some of the bigger acts are now doing residencies at the House of Blues rather than taking chances on filling bigger halls, and that's made it harder for us to get into the room we're used to. But there's always work. That says something, right?

There's nothing better than meeting the folks after the show and have a beer. But that's about it anymore. We don't have the same partying life we used to because we have a responsibility to the music. There's a regimen required to do this at this level and, even though the brain still thinks I'm a 21-year-old rocker, the body says otherwise.

If you go

Who: Irish American rockers the Young Dubliners

When: 8 p.m. Friday

Where: Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center, 300 West Main St., Old Saybrook

How much: $30 and $35

For more information: 1-877-503-1286, thekate.org.