Famed singer Judy Collins has three concerts in Hawaii

Judy Collins, the famously blue-eyed, golden-voiced artist who has been singing the story of our lives since the ’60s, is coming back. After having lots of fun on her four-island, sold-out Hawaii concert tour in 2015, she said, she’s happy to be returning.

With well over 100 performances a year scheduled across the United States and despite what she calls a “very long” flight from her New York home to our islands, Collins made it clear she likes it here because of the enthusiasm of the fans, something that she hoped for and found two years ago upon her first solo appearance in Hawaii. Calling from her home near New York City, she said she loves what she calls the gentle beauty and the energy of the islands.

Her music crosses generations. Collins was born on May 1, 1939, and has been performing since she was a teenager. At 77, she has no plans to retire.

On this trip she will be joined by a new guitarist and voice, Ari Hest, who was born in the Bronx, N.Y., in 1979. As it happens, there’s a Hawaii connection to their partnership, which was forged after her most recent appearance in the islands.

“After playing and writing music for some time, Hest was on Kauai and sent a photo of himself standing beside my poster — and it began,” she said. They met, she liked his music and they recorded together.

Their “Silver Skies Blue” album is up for best folk album at the Grammy Awards ceremony on Feb. 12. There’s a Hawaii connection there, too: She has said that album track “Drifting Away” was inspired by dreams and memories both she and Hest have of the islands.

Her first hit as a popular singer was 1967’s “Both Sides Now,” Collins’ rendition of Joni Mitchell’s song, with its lines, “I’ve looked at clouds from both sides now / From up and down and still somehow / It’s clouds’ illusions I recall. …”

In “Drifting Away,” she and Hest sing, “There is a cloud hanging over / But I am looking past her / Though she is majestic / To the endless sky above / I’ve finally found the courage to be brave / Dreaming the day, drifting away. …”

She says she has never had an “opener” or musical partner before, but she is finding her collaboration with Hest to be inspired. While she is in New York and he is in New Jersey, they make it work, writing songs long-distance.

Hest also took part in the 2015 album “Strangers Again,” which paired Collins with musical collaborators including Jackson Browne and Jeff Bridges.

When Collins called, what was to be a short talk about her concert tour turned into a longer conversation about what is really important to her, including health and the battles she has won.

The 1969 song dedicated to her “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes,” from Stephen Stills of Crosby, Stills and Nash, refers to the turbulent end times of a relationship between Stills and Collins, when they were both quite young. During that time period, Collins said she also faced struggles with drugs, alcohol and eating disorders. She faces up to her issues with eating in her newest book, due out Feb. 21, titled, “Cravings: How I Conquered the Food.”

Her eating advice is that she believes “all convictions are easier done than said.” She travels with her own food — primarily veggies, fruit, cheese, yogurt and sliced turkey. However, she says, “I am not a vegan; I love a good steak!”

Her words of wisdom are what might have been called “mantras” back in the day. They reach beyond singing, recording or performing.

“Art has to keep us inspired and activated. Do what you can, put your money where your mouth is, and at the same time you keep a brilliant flame burning in your creative heart,” Collins advises. “Be solid to the bone, in the age of bullying and lying.

“Be kind, courteous, just and loving when the world is on fire around you, when the forces of evil are rampant. Utilize don’t analyze; do what you can, help out where you can.

Collins has authored several books, including the powerful and inspiring 2003 memoir “Sanity Grace,” and “Sweet Judy Blue Eyes: My Life in Music,” released in 2011. In the latter, she reaches deep inside and, with unflinching honesty, recalls her turbulent childhood, rise to fame, romance with Stills and epic battles with depression and alcoholism. She prevailed, embracing a healthy and stable lifestyle and finding true love with Louis Nelson, her partner of 37 years.

Collins has also been a lifelong social activist, representing UNICEF and numerous other causes.

“The constant heart is the heart that keeps on beating for truth, for action against the tide of ignorance, for continuance in an age when everything is up for sale,” Collins said. “Do the priceless.”

Things you might not know about her are often shared in her concerts. “My father was a blind singer and disc jockey,” she said. “He moved us from Seattle to Denver in 1949, way before it was a folk singers’ habitat. … Then I sang my way to Greenwich Village in New York.”

In 1961, Collins debuted as a recording artist with a folk album, “A Maid of Constant Sorrows.”

While she acknowledges her many awards and successes, ultimately she always returns to the subject of a song’s message. Ask her what is most important to her, and the answer comes quick: “the music.”