“I admire Holly to the ends of the earth. She's someone who walks her talk,” Gail Benvenuta said of Holly Near, a lifelong activist who will make an appearance in Port Townsend this week.

Benvenuta couldn't help but sing Near's praises, counting the several issues she has advocated for over Near's 50-year career, which include women's rights, lesbian and gay activism, and entertaining during the Vietnam War.

“She has this huge 'herstory' that is stellar,” Benvenuta said. “She has been that kind of role model. To find someone who has been around the block, with no ego, and still present and caring, she's unique in so many ways.”

Near started her career in entertainment with small acting parts in shows such as “Mod Squad,” “Room 222,” and “The Partridge Family,” transitioning to a member of the Broadway musical “Hair.” In the wake of the Kent State University shootings in 1970, the cast attended a candlelight vigil and later inspired her song, “It Could've Been Me.” Her activism started in 1971, with her joining the Free The Army Tour, a road show of music, comedy and plays centered around the anti-Vietnam War movement, featuring Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland.

In that social environment, it wasn't common for social activist women to be signed onto record labels, recalled Jan Mardquardt, one of the organizers of the event who has been following Near's career for decades. Near has traveled around the world, to respond to human rights issues on foreign lands. “All the newsworthy events, she was called upon,” Mardquardt said. “They started out as these kinds of artists in the '70s, when they didn't have an artist who wasn't singing the pop music, you never got a contract,” she added.

Both Near and Laura Love, who will open the concert, were the first women to establish independent record labels. Near's company, Redwood Records, featured several musicians such as Pete Seegar, Ronnie Gilbert, Arlo Guthrie and many others. One of the most significant areas Near has addressed has been the LGBTQ community, as she was one of the first celebrities to discuss her sexual orientation during a 1976 interview with People magazine.

Women's issues is just one facet of her work, which is filled in with other general human rights. “She doesn't really do any political bashes, but she does it in a broader sense of what is happening in the world,” said Mardquardt. Benvenuta has seen Near in different types of performing environments, and vouches for her presence on stage.

Mardquardt has been following Near since she was was in her late 20s, which was about the time she got her start in the music industry. Since then, she's strived to not miss an event of Near's she could reasonably attend. Responding to the question of what audiences should anticipate for Near's Port Townsend concert, Mardquardt said, “They should expect to be informed and uplifted,” adding that they are sure to be entertained and energized. “I find it to be an awakening,” she said. “(Near and Love) use their voice to represent like someone is listening and standing up for them.” Mardquardt also said Near conducts a humor-filled discussion, balanced out with what it feels to be in a “downtrodden and hopeless situation.”

“It's a very inspiring show. She's a little all over the map with the kind of songs she sings, but she has a discussion that can be political, as well as hopeful, as far as what our world situation is,” said Mardquardt. “I get uplifted and inspired.”

“Holly is an inspiration you don't want to miss,” Benvenuta said. “We benefit from having someone like that here.”

Opening the concert will be Near's fellow activist musician, Laura Love, whom the New York Times has proclaimed “exuberant” and said “conveys the fervor of someone reaching out with an almost frenzied joy.” Love returns to touring after taking nearly a decade off of living off, to live and raise her daughter.

The event will be held at 7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 21 at the Quimper Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 2333 San Juan Ave. The Port Townsend stop will act as one of the first for Near's 23-city national tour to celebrate her 31st album, “2018.”