It’s a little after 4 p.m. on a Friday, and Joel Raymond is standing in an aisle of the Camden Opera House, sipping a black cup of coffee.

On stage, folk singer Chris Smither is fingerpicking his guitar and testing his voice through the PA system.

“I like to listen to the sound check,” Raymond explains, as we eavesdrop on the adjustments Smither makes to the microphone levels with the help of a sound technician. “Sometimes you hear things at sound check that you’d never hear anywhere else.”

The scene seems like a music lover’s dream come true: a casual, semi-private performance by a stellar musician with rare glimpses of the behind-the-scenes elements that make for a great live show. But if this is part of the payoff for Raymond – a 30-year veteran of promoting live music in Maine – no one could accuse him of not earning it. A few hours earlier, he says, he was helping with the less-than-glamorous work of hauling in the speaker cabinets and other gear that will make tonight’s show a success.

“I do a lot of lugging,” Raymond says, punctuating the observation with his ready smile. “Half the job is schlepping the equipment.”

And then there are the countless other chores associated with show business at this level: hanging posters in store windows, phoning radio stations, typing up newspaper calendar entries, delivering tickets to area stores, hiring a caterer to prepare the entertainer’s meal, collecting tickets at the door, and on and on.

The work may not be as exciting as the glory days at the Fillmore, but, largely due to Raymond’s efforts, quality musical acts are again venturing north of Portland, ending a drought of live music in eastern Maine that began with the demise of the Left Bank Cafe in Blue Hill about three years ago.

Born in Bar Harbor and raised in Ellsworth, Raymond, 47, has been bringing live rock, folk and blues music to audiences here since he was in junior high school. Back in the late 1960s, he helped older teens put on dance shows in Hancock County.

“We’d rent roller rinks, town halls,” remembers the promoter whose duties then were setting up chairs and sweeping up after the show.

When the older teens moved on to other pursuits, they told Raymond he could – even at the tender age of 14 – do the work. From 1968 to 1972, he learned the ropes as a solo promoter.

“I remember being 16 and making $800 or $900 on a Friday night,” he says, recalling how he presented bands in Bar Harbor and Bangor. “It was just great stuff,” he says of the bands of that era, “a lot of original material.”

But a state law changed the scene. The legal drinking age went from 21 to 18, and interest in the music slipped to second place.

“Suddenly, there were these totally amateur drinkers,” Raymond says. “It became a bar scene,” with the musical acts competing with a TV, or some loud drunk in the corner. And bands adapted, covering popular hits instead of creating their own sound.

Raymond took the leap around that time to bringing nationally known musicians to the Pine Tree State. A watershed concert in his career was a 1973 triple bill featuring Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley and John Lee Hooker at the Portland Expo. The musicians were to perform two shows, for which Raymond had sold about 3,500 tickets.

“Chuck pulls up and parks his big car right in front,” Raymond says, and while the legendary musician was inside, “someone popped the trunk and stole his guitar.” Berry turned to the 19-year-old Raymond and said, “You better get it back, boy, you better get it back!”

Fortunately for both Berry and Raymond, a group waiting on line outside the venue witnessed the theft and chased down the thief into the woods and brought the guitar back. But Raymond wasn’t out of the woods.

Hooker, who died earlier this summer, was strung out that night, mumbling to himself, Raymond recalls, and refused to perform the first show. Many attending had come to hear the famous bluesman, so Raymond let anyone who wanted to stay for the late show when Hooker finally played.

But a dispute between Raymond and Hooker over payment resulted in a lawsuit, which ended up being decided by an arbitration board of the musicians’ guild. The arbitrators sought proof that Hooker did not play the first show, which meant Raymond had to get Berry to give a deposition stating that Hooker in fact didn’t perform.

Berry cooperated and Raymond received a settlement.

There were shows that didn’t end in litigation. Raymond brought the British progressive band Jethro Tull to the Bangor Auditorium in 1972. The band had just released its now-classic album “Thick As A Brick,” and the show consisted of the album’s sole, 40-minute song, as well as all of the band’s previous album, “Aqualung.”

Raymond let his tastes be his guide, and that didn’t always translate into success. Todd Rundgren’s Utopia, another art-rock band of the early ’70s, did not connect with the Maine concert-going audience of the day.

That experience taught him an important lesson, he says, which is to try and get a fix on what music will click with local audiences. The question he now asks himself is, “OK, but will it sell?”

And often, timing is key, he says. When was the performer last in Maine? Does he or she have a new album out?

“I always had a feeling for what worked in a particular venue,” he says. Even so, “I made some money,” on some acts, “then I lost my shirt on a couple of shows.”

Some other successes that stand out from the ’70s are electric blues guitarist Johnny Winter, roots musician Taj Mahal, delta blues legend Muddy Waters, and bluegrass fiddler Vassar Clements.

Through the late ’70s, Raymond ran an agency, which booked musical acts into Ramada and Holiday Inns. Then he turned to a more conventional way to make a living, opening video-rental stores in Bar Harbor, Ellsworth and Blue Hill, which he operated for about 15 years.

Raymond also volunteers at WERU-FM, the noncommercial, community radio station in East Orland. On his regular Friday show from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., he plays the best of adult rock and folk singer-songwriters and bands. Many of the artists he features on the radio are those who play in Raymond-produced shows in the area, but the station’s guidelines on conflict of interest prevent him from mentioning the concerts. He even steers clear of playing the artists on the air in the weeks before a show.

In the mid-90s, Raymond became the manager of the Bar Harbor rock band, The Beatroots, and produced the group’s two records. The band is on a hiatus at the moment.

Touring with the band rekindled his flame for the business, and so over the last two years, Raymond has returned to promoting concerts featuring musicians who usually appeal to baby boomers with tastes leaning away from the mainstream and into folk, alternative rock, blues and alternative country.

The show with Chris Smither and opening act Steve Forbert is typical of how he grabs acts for a Maine appearance. Smither was playing in Boston, and Forbert in Portland the night before, and both had open dates. It helped that both also use the same agent.

An appearance by the band Wilco last summer came together in a similar manner. Raymond had been tracking the group’s tour with Natalie Merchant, and saw that there were a couple of nights off between gigs in New England. A few phone calls later, and Wilco was bound for a sold-out show at the Camden Opera House.

“I always felt like I could talk to people,” he says. Banking on that talent pays off in dealing with newspapers, radio stations, and record stores, as he works to get the word out.

This summer, Raymond produced some 15 shows, including Richard Thompson, Dar Williams, Freedy Johnston, John Gorka, Cheryl Wheeler, Dan Hicks, Kate and Anna McGarrigle, Eileen Ivers, Iris DeMent, and the Flatlanders. So many shows, in fact, he says, “I’ve become my own competition.”

As much as music is a passion for Raymond, promoting is a business. The way it works is that Raymond will negotiate a minimum fee for an artist with his or her agent. For Iris DeMent, who had not performed in New England since 1990 when she drew less than 200 at a show, the minimum may be less than $1,000. After his expenses – which are considerable and range from hiring the soundman to paying someone to run the box office – Raymond gets to keep the first 15-20 percent of receipts.

The artists usually get the remaining percentage, above and beyond the guarantee. Last year, DeMent earned more than double the minimum, which means Raymond will have to pay her more when she appears in Portsmouth this month.

On this Friday night, less than two weeks after the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, the 500-seat opera house is about two thirds full. But the audience is enthusiastic, giving Forbert a standing ovation after his hour-long opening set.

After hustling from the front door to backstage repeatedly, attending to last-minute details such as plastering the lobby with posters for his next show, Raymond introduces Forbert. Then, finally, he can relax, take a seat and enjoy Forbert play.