"The folk songs are so rich that they have provided me with a full life of treasures to sing over and over again," said folksinger/songwriter/teacher/multi-instrumentalist Peggy Seeger in a phone interview from her Boston home. "We don't get a whole lot of songs in pop music now that we want to sing over and over again. They aren't ones that have been honed and polished by generations, so what we're singing is a piece of history."

Seeger will be at the Unity College Centre for the Performing Arts July 10. This artist is sister to Mike Seeger, who is a virtuoso on several dozen instruments, and half-sister to Pete Seeger, who is considered the father -- now grandfather -- of the American folk-revival since 1946. She has three children (with Ewan MacColl, who penned the song, "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" for her), all of whom are involved in music.

As the chat continued, she touched briefly on the songwriting aspect of her more than 50-year career.

"When I make new songs, I try to make them like the old songs -- with the same disciplines -- understanding that the old songs must have had some good stuff in 'em in the way they were made," Seeger said. "So study 'em when you make your new songs."

The next topic of discussion was the touring aspect, and I was curious to know if she often gets up to Maine to perform.

"Not as much as I would like to," she said. "I would love to come up there more but I go where people ask me. It isn't that they don't ask me to Maine, it's just that they haven't asked me as much as other people have. But I loved it every time I've come up."

When asked is there will be other musicians with her at the UCCPA show, Seeger stated that she doesn't usually take opening acts with her. She won't have any backing players for her set this time around, either. That way she can go where she and her muse -- and the audience -- wish to go without being confined by a pre-determined set list.

"I love it," Seeger said. "Sometimes you get carried away by it and you tend to be self-indulgent, but I try not to be that way."

I was curious to know what her show was going to be like at the Unity College Centre for the Performing Arts.

"It's going to be a mixture of traditional and contemporary songs -- not every one of them by me," she said. "There will be songs they can sing. I'll be bringing, probably, all the instruments, which will mean five, plus a piano. What they'll be hearing is somebody who is 74, who can still cut it, and I would hope that some young people will come. If you can get 'em there, I can keep 'em there!"

In setting up the interview, her manager alluded to the fact that this might be considered a farewell tour in that Seeger might be relocating back to England in 2010.

"Oh, I definitely am next May," she said. "I'm 74 now and by that time I'll be 75, or near enough. The distances are too great here, the airlines are killing me: I can't afford to fly anymore with my instruments. And the distances are too great to drive.

"But, my kids are in England, which is my first reason for going back. I'm going to be 75 and I want to be near the ones I gave birth to. And, I have eight grandchildren. Who knows, they may come and stay with me, maybe they'll even come and tour with me. Four of my grandsons have their own bands."

As the conversation wound down, I wondered if there was anything that the legendary folksinger wished to have passed on to the readers of this "What's Happening" feature.

"Well, I have a song I wrote in Maine," Seeger said. "Well, I wrote it as a result of being in Maine, but I'll tell the story when I'm up there. It's called 'Heading For Home.'

"It's going to be like something like they won't get again! I'm not blowing my own horn; I'm blowing the horn of the music...so, if they want a unique experience, I'll give it to them. Oh, and tell them to come with their voices."

Lucky Clark is a music journalist living in Sweden, Maine. He may be reached at lucky@megalink.net.