Richie Havens has come full circle.

Havens, now 64, became indelibly etched on the American rock scene in 1969, with his dynamic three-hour opening set at Woodstock. It was there on Max Yasgur’s farm that, strapped for material near the end of that set, he improvised “Freedom,” a song based on the spiritual “Motherless Child” that would become an anthem for that generation.

Now, more than 35 years later, Havens has recorded his version of the song encapsulizing that festival, “Woodstock,” on his recently released 26th album, “Grace of the Sun,” recorded on his own Stormy Forest label.

Now Mainers can catch Havens live at the Music and Arts Festival at Flye Point in Brooklin, to be held 10:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m. Saturday, June 25, at the Brooklin Inn. Beside Havens, also playing will be headliner Don McLean, Jonathan Edwards, The Mammals, Gordon Bok, Sarah Lee Guthrie & Johnny Irion, Northern Lights and Geoff Kaufman.

An outdoor festival is the atmosphere that Havens enjoys most.

“Festivals are family-oriented places to be,” Havens said in a phone interview. “There’s all ages there, from grandmothers to newborn babies.”

Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., the eldest of nine, Richard P. Havens has been singing for much of his life. At age 16, he organized street-corner doo-wop groups and soon joined the McCrea Gospel Singers. At 20, he left for that foreign land, Greenwich Village, indulging his other passion, painting portraits, to earn a living while he soaked up the beatnik scene there. When he felt comfortable enough, he went up onstage himself.

And he has been playing ever since, around the world. About 28 years ago, he made the wise decision to perform only on weekends, to protect his thumb from his rather percussive guitar-playing style.

What keeps him going out on the road?

“The fact that I’m asked to go,” Havens explained. “I’m sharing what was given to me. My shows all pertain to how this kind of music has changed my life.”

Havens is well respected as a songwriter. His process is more inspiration than perspiration, and almost akin to channeling.

“I get the title first, quickly writing it down,” he said. “I somehow know what the first lines are, and it just writes itself out from there. It generally comes full form. I hardly ever start and stop. But the title is the egg from which comes everything else.”

Havens has also gained the reputation as a great interpreter of others’ work. These include Bob Dylan’s “Just Like a Woman” and the Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun.” Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower” is on his latest album.

Once again, selecting songs to cover comes from hearing the music speak to him.

“When it hits me, something happens,” Havens said. “I get some inspiration, some education from it. It’s a song that moves me personally.”

Through the years, Havens has been a musical sponge, gleaning inspiration from music around the world. That continues today.

“I listen to everything, all the music that’s given to me on the road,” he said. “That’s some real airline food. I don’t listen to radio much, but when I do, I go right across the dial.”

Havens maintained that there is original music out there today, not just recycling of old music.

“It’s new because it’s a mixture of the old and the new,” he said. “I think, ‘How much can you do with three chords?’ but there’s always different things than I would ever expect to hear. It’s incredible what’s out there.”

So what does Havens work on when he comes off the road?

“It’s mostly other forms of expression,” he said. “I’m up for hours after a gig, drawing, sculpting, manipulating digital photos.”

He has also always been involved with projects for children.

“I think many of us make the mistake of believing that children don’t know anything,” he said. “But they know everything. They are the teachers here. They need to be treated as humans who have something to say. It’s been said that they are our future, but they’re actually our present, who will change the future.”

Tickets for the Music and Arts Festival at Flye Point, which sold out last year, are available only in advance. They can be purchased at Borders Books in Bangor, all Grasshopper Shops, Tradewinds Supermarket and Mainescape Garden Shop in Blue Hill and the Brooklin General Store, online at www.fpmusicfest.com, or by calling 359-2127. Dale McGarrigle can be reached at 990-8028 and dmcgarrigle@bangordailynews.net.