on his way to The Stone Church, Richie Havens reflects on a legendary career

The song “Freedom” was first performed on the evening of Aug. 15, 1969—day one of the Woodstock Festival in upstate New York. Opening act Richie Havens, then a rather obscure folk singer and guitarist who emerged out of Greenwich Village, had been mesmerizing the audience of 500,000 for over two hours. Covers of Beatles songs like “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “Hey Jude” paved the way for a tear-inducing performance of “Handsome Johnny,” which captured the spirit of the festival in a way that would be memorialized forever in the “Woodstock” film the following year.

“Hey, look yonder, tell me what you see, marching to the fields of Vietnam,” Havens sang in his rich and husky voice, barring the strings of an acoustic guitar with his mammoth thumb. “Looks like handsome Johnny with an M15, marching to the Vietnam War. Hey, marching to the Vietnam War.”

When the song ended, the massive crowd at Woodstock was roaring for more, but Havens was fresh out of songs. Rather than leaving the stage, he began improvising a tune based on an old spiritual called “Motherless Child.” The song began with Havens rapidly strumming his guitar while repeatedly chanting the word “freedom.”

The song ultimately adopted this first word as its title and became an anthem for unity and brotherhood that would endure through generations. Last month, Havens was asked to perform “Freedom” at the Cannes International Film Festival in France. The performance was meant as a surprise for the festival’s jury president, Sean Penn, a big Havens fan. According to Havens, it was well received.

“They told me that they never hear anyone applaud, but it was a standing-O,” Havens said with a hearty laugh. “Everybody was into it. It just blew their minds, and it blew my mind, too.”

Was Penn surprised?

“Very surprised,” Havens said. “He’s a very sensitive guy, you know?”

There’s no telling which songs Havens will perform when he comes to The Stone Church in Newmarket on Friday, June 13. Now 67, the singer and guitarist takes a spiritual approach to his live shows, molding each set to the unique atmosphere invoked by his audience.

“I actually only know the first and last song I’m gonna sing when I go onstage. Everything in between that first and last song is conjured, I feel, by the audience itself,” Havens said. “It’s not that I am doing it but that I am allowing it to be done through me.”

Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., Havens began organizing street corner doo-wop groups at a young age. By the time he was 16, he was performing with The McCrea Gospel Singers in Brooklyn. He moved to Greenwich Village at the age of 20 and began reading poems and drawing portraits in the rich beatnik scene of the 1950s.

Havens also immersed himself in the thriving folk scene that he found in the Village, singing songs he heard sung by figures like Fred Neil, Dino Valenti and Bob Gibson. The songs moved him profoundly, conveying messages that spoke to his entire generation. Havens had never picked up a guitar until Fred Neil lent him one and encouraged him to learn how to play.

“I took that guitar that he lent me and I went home and I tuned it to a chord,” Havens said. “I sat it on my lap like a dulcimer and I started playing, and I sang those songs that way for the next seven years.”

Havens’ reputation as a solo performer quickly spread, and he began recording demos in the mid-’60s. He eventually caught the attention of Albert Grossman, who had already managed such folk legends as Peter Paul and Mary and Bob Dylan. Under Grossman’s management, Havens signed a deal with Verve Records, which released his debut album, “Mixed Bag,” in 1967. Among the album’s tracks were “Handsome Johnny” and a standout version of Dylan’s “Just Like a Woman.”

By the time Woodstock rolled around, Havens had already become a fixture of the festival circuit, having performed at the 1966 Newport Folk Festival, the 1967 Monterey Jazz Festival and the 1968 Miami Pop Festival. His gig opening the four-day Woodstock Festival spread his appeal much further, and he became an artist in high demand across several musical genres.

“I became a folk-jazz singer, I became a folk-blues singer, I became a folk-rock singer, I became a folk singer, overnight,” Havens said. “Whatever they tell me I am, that’s what I do, and I do the same songs.”

Havens now has close to 30 albums under his belt. His latest, “Nobody Left to Crown,” is due out on July 29—his first since 2004’s “Grace of the Sun.” Havens believes that each of his albums reflect the years during which they were created. With combinations of original tunes, traditional arrangements and classic covers, he crafts albums that chronicle the times we’ve lived through.  

“Nobody Left to Crown” continues the tradition of conveying timely messages—especially in a big presidential election year. The title track, which was first recorded during a live performance in the 1980s, features lyrics about the flaws in America’s political system. The song includes lines like, “What if politicians were all good guys? Oh lord, don’t we wish they were,” and “What if they gave an election and nobody came to vote? The system it needs a bit of correction.”  

“It’s about the fact that there isn’t anyone out there that’s actually going to be able to help every one of us,” Havens said. “It asks all the questions that should be asked today, as well as yesterday.”

Many of those questions, Havens noted, are the same now as they were back in the 1960s. Like then, the United States is again involved in an unpopular war with questionable motives and no end in sight. Havens thinks music helped get people through the Vietnam War, and he believes it can do the same today. He sees his music as a way to convey messages from generation to generation and from culture to culture.

“Music is communication. It does cross all lines,” Havens said. “And, in traditional ways, we find a lot of different societies and cultures practically sing the same song.”

Looking back on his career, Havens finds it difficult to enumerate the highlights. He once performed “Freedom” at the request of the Dalai Lama to trumpet the cause of freedom in Tibet. He played at Bill Clinton’s presidential inauguration in 1993 and released his first book in 1999. He has also devoted much of his career to educating young people about ecological issues. Children, he said, are often his biggest fans.

“I’m fortunate. I go to festivals and I get chased by little guys under four feet tall. They’re going, ‘Awesome man, you play the guitar real awesome!’ I have my best conversations with those guys,” he said.

At 67, Havens has no plans to slow down. On the contrary, he feels like he grows younger with each passing day. “I’m pedaling backwards as fast as I can,” he said. “I found the secret. The secret is: you never grow a day older than the day you leave your mom’s house.”  

Havens said he looks forward to playing within the snug confines of The Stone Church, which reminds him of the small coffee houses where he used to gig in Greenwich Village in the early ’60s. Performing in front of people is still as much of a rush for him now as it ever was.

“It’s as invigorating for me as the first day,” he said. “It has been the first day ever since the beginning.”

Richie Havens will be at The Stone Church on Friday, June 13 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $35 in advance, $40 day of show. Visit www.thestonechurch.com.