It isn’t enough that Judy Collins has been blessed with a voice described as “liquid silver.” Or that she’s a folk music pioneer. Or that every song in her legendary repertoire has the power to make even the most hardened Teamster cry. Collins also happens to be one of the most industrious individuals in show business.

“I’m a working girl and I always have been,” says the 76 year-old singer-songwriter. “I’ve already started touring with my new album and just this morning, I was working on a chapter of a new book that I’m writing. I’m always trying to do something creative … That’s what keeps me enthusiastic and energetic and looking for the next big thing.”

Though our interview takes place on an unusually balmy day in Manhattan, Collins is looking forward to a couple of gigs that will take place when temperatures have dipped considerably.

To help welcome the holiday season, the Grammy Award-winner will be performing at two different Maine-based venues. On Nov. 21, Collins will appear at the Bodman Performing Arts Center in Kents Hill. Then, on Dec. 5, Collins headlines a “Holiday and Hits” show at Jonathan’s in Ogunquit. According to promoters for each event, both concerts are expected to sell out.

The demand is a tributable not only to Collins’s exquisite renditions of “Both Sides Now,” “Amazing Grace” and “Send in the Clowns,” but also to the fact that “Sweet Judy Blue Eyes” is suddenly back on the charts.

Collins recently released Strangers Again, a studio produced collection of duets, which reached the coveted #1 spot on Amazon’s bestseller list. The album is being lauded as one of her finest contemporary efforts.

For the new disc, Collins lined up an eclectic group of male artists to work with. The stellar talents on board include Jimmy Buffet, Don McLean, Jackson Browne, Willie Nelson and, yes, even The Big Lebowski himself, Jeff Bridges.

Collins says the impetus for the duets album was the haunting title track. The ballad was written by one of her favorite new collaborators, Bronx born singer-songwriter Ari Hest.

“I’ve been working with Ari for a couple of years now,” says Collins. “I searched through his discography and I found this beautiful song, “Strangers Again,” and I said to myself, ‘Oh God, I have to record that before Diana Ross gets her hands on it…’ Thankfully, I had a little warm up…I had recorded duets with Stephen Stills and Joan Baez…I thought, let me build an entire duet group around this so that I can record “Strangers Again.” And so, I started calling all of my friends.”

Collins says that several of her duet partners suggested which songs they wanted to record with her. “When I met up with Jimmy Buffet and told him about the duets album, he said, ‘Oh my god, I’ve been dreaming my whole life about singing “Someday Soon” with you.’ So I said, ‘Well, we can do that one together.’”

A chart-topper for Collins in 1969, “Someday Soon” has been called “one of the great story-songs of the 1960s.” In this poignant tune, the narrator laments the fact that her drifter boyfriend, “loves his damned old rodeo as much as he loves me.”

Don McLean, whom Collins has shared the concert stage with in the past, decided he wanted to duet with her on a new interpretation of a Stephen Sondheim classic – one that Collins has practically patented.

“I told Don about this duets project,” says Collins. “I said, ‘Let’s do “Vincent” together and he said, ‘Oh, I’m so sick of singing “Vincent.” Then he said, ‘You’re going to laugh, but I think we should do “Send in the Clowns.”’ So, I said, ‘Well, I’m not laughing. I think it’s a great idea.’”

In 1975, Collins’ Grammy-winning version of “Send in the Clowns” soared to the top of the Billboard charts. When the same recording was re-released two years later, that single was even more successful.

As for turning one of her biggest hits into a duet, Collins admits, “I didn’t plan on repeating or re-doing any of my songs for this collection but I think it’s always time for another view. Or let’s say, it was the time now.”

Collins first met actor Jeff Bridges during the making of the acclaimed 1972 film Fat City. The movie, which was directed by John Huston, starred Judy’s then- boyfriend, Stacy Keach.

“I was living with Stacy at the time and we took a little house out in Stockton, California, where John Huston and the whole cast was staying. That was quite an experience,” says Collins. “Since Fat City, I’ve seen Jeff Bridges several times over the years…He’s so easy, so professional and so inspired. It was Jeff who decided he wanted to sing a song from [the Leonard Bernstein operetta] Candide. It was his suggestion that we record “Make Our Garden Grow,” which is such a wonderful song.”

To promote Strangers Again, Collins has embarked on an ambitious tour, with concerts scheduled everywhere from Cardiff, Wales, to Bigfork, Mont.

“It’s a one-night-stand kind of life,” Collins says. “You go from your hotel room to the concert stage. That’s what this scene is all about. It’s not a sightseeing career, believe me…Though when I went to Maine two years ago with my sister, my brother and my husband [designer Louis Nelson], we spent a couple of days there just being in the wonderful nature and having a good time. But that’s rare.”

For several upcoming appearances, Collins will be joined on stage by duet partner Ari Hest. “I’m thrilled to be touring, singing and now recording with Judy,” says the 36-year-old musician. “Since we met a few years ago, we’ve formed a friendship that extends beyond musical collaboration. It isn’t lost on me how fortunate I am to be working with her…Though I’ve toured quite a bit over the last 10 years, she’s taken me to parts of the world I had yet to see. I’m so grateful for her presence in my life.”

This isn’t the first time that Collins has championed the work of an emerging artist. In the 60s, when she was under contract to Elektra Records, the label’s founder, Jac Holzman, asked for her opinion of an offbeat young singer.

“When Jac was thinking of signing Jim Morrison, he called me up and said, ‘I want you to come over to the house and listen to this music because your vote is the one that counts. If you don’t like this, I won’t sign him…’” I remember saying, ‘Oh my god, I’m crazy about them. Are you kidding? I would be upset if you didn’t sign them.’ So, maybe I can take credit for The Doors as well. Wouldn’t that be funny?”

Collins produced Strangers Again for her own Wildflower Records label and says that the music industry has definitely changed since she started recording in 1961.

“I don’t know what my first album sold but it certainly wasn’t very much,” says Collins. “But Elektra Records stayed the course and they stuck with me. That takes a lot of chutzpah and a lot of courage to do that with an artist. People nowadays don’t. If you make an album that sells 10,000 copies or less, the big companies say goodbye…But my first label was top-of-the-line. They did fantastic work with me. They had something to work with, of course, but they stuck with me.”

Mark Griffin is the author of a forthcoming biography of Rock Hudson to be published by HarperCollins.

Go and Do

Judy Collins In Concert

Bodman Performing Arts Center at Newton Hall

Kent’s Hill

Saturday, November 21 at 7:30pm

Tickets: $55 (general seating); $75.00 (VIP seating in the first three rows)

www.kentshill.org/concertseries or call 207-685-1635

Judy Collins: Holiday and Hits Show

Jonathan’s – Ogunquit

Saturday, December 5 at 8pm

Tickets: $75 (show only); $94 (Show Plus Perks); $119 (Premier Seating and Dining Voucher)

tickets.jonathansogunquit.com or (207)-646-4777

Judy Collins In Concert

Saturday, Nov. 21, 7:30 p.m.

Bodman Performing Arts Center at Newton Hall

1614 Main St., Kent’s Hill, 

Tickets: $55 (general seating); $75 (VIP seating in the first three rows)

www.kentshill.org/concertseries or call 207-685-1635

Judy Collins: Holiday and Hits Show

Jonathan’s – Ogunquit

Saturday, Dec. 5 at 8 p.m.

Tickets: $75 (show only); $94 (show plus perks); $119 (premier seating and dining voucher)

tickets.jonathansogunquit.com or (207)-646-4777