Rockport — Local master folk musician Gordon Bok will perform Saturday, July 7 at 7:30 p.m. at the Rockport Opera House, 6 Central St., a venue he often appeared in during the days of the Rockport Folk Festival. His concert will benefit Station Maine. Tickets are $20, available at Huston-Tuttle, Rockland; Zoot Coffee, Camden; online at stationmaine.org; and at the door.

Bok grew up around the boatyards of Camden. He started singing and playing guitar at an early age, inspired by both his musical family and his coastal environment. He worked on or near the water much of his earlier years in shipyards and on sailing vessels, serving in every capacity from dishwasher to captain. As the original first mate on the sloop Clearwater, Bok toured the New England coast with the Hudson River Sloop Singers.

Bok's music is largely self-taught. He has learned many songs and stories from people he has worked with and continues to do so. He performs with 6- and 12-string guitars as well as a baritone viol da gamba, which he designed himself. He also sings a cappella, applying his resonant bass-baritone voice to a rich repertoire. Bok boasts a treasure trove of ballads of Maine and the Maritimes, songs and dances of the Americas and abroad, stories of boats and sailors, tales of seafolk and "cantefables" of his own composition, contemporary songs and instrumentals.

Bok has made more than 30 albums, solo and with other musicians, and many other musicians have recorded his songs. His music has been used in films and is published in folk music anthologies including "Rise Up Singing" and his own collections, "Time and the Flying Snow" and "One to Sing, One to Haul."

Bok has performed at folk clubs, concert halls and festivals throughout the United States, Canada, Great Britain and Scandinavia. He has appeared in concert with the Paul Winter Consort, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and on "A Prairie Home Companion." He has served as artist-in-residence and faculty member at the College of the Atlantic. Bok's latest album is "Because You Asked," a collection of old and new favorite songs; his first album was produced by Noel Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul and Mary.

Station Maine is an organization of community members dedicated to offering boating opportunities at no cost to Midcoast youth of all ages. For more information, call 691-2037. For more information about Bok, visit gordonbok.com.

Courier Publications' A&E Editor Dagney C. Ernest can be reached at 207-594-4401 or dernest@courierpublicationsllc.com.