Midwest singer-songwriter Peter Mulvey is returning to Port Townsend, where he has developed a number of close connections to the community.

He is set to perform at the Palindrome, at Eaglemount Winery and Cidery, his third such collaboration with Rainshadow Concerts, previously at the  Rainshadow Recording Studios at Fort Worden State Park.

Mulvey’s other Fort Worden connection comes from his associations with the editorial staff of Copper Canyon Press, where he ordered a couple of hundred copies of “Braided Creek: A Conversation in Poetry,” by Jim Harrison and Ted Kooser, to pass on to his own fan base.

Mulvey said his working-class background, from his Catholic upbringing in Milwaukee to his busking tours through Dublin and Boston, has made him sympathetic to those working in low-income but creatively rich professions. He includes his fellow traveling musicians along with schoolteachers and poets in that group.

Mulvey said he seeks to support poets in part because their work has provided examples for him to emulate in his own songwriting.

“I’ve always tended toward that confessional direction in my writing, of distilling as much as you can into as few words as you can, and hopefully doing it with some beauty,” he said. “But for those who might find poetry intimidating, I promise my songs won’t leave you feeling like you have to write essays about them afterward, and they go well with beer.”

Mulvey lamented how poetry is too often taught in ways that can “throw kids under the bus, because they’re presented with these poems that it took those poets years to learn how to write, and then, those kids are tasked with understanding them on the spot.”

By contrast, Mulvey hopes that everyone who attends his performances can connect to the common experience of “fighting the unsatisfying parts of existence.” His songs are written in part to serve as “moments of grace, like noticing the way the light shines through your kitchen window, that leave you with a sense of solace, when you think, ‘This is fine.’”

Although Mulvey has opened for larger artists, he appreciates that more intimate venues, such as the Palindrome and Rainshadow Recording, afford a closeness with the audiences to impart a sense of “pervasive grace.” But regardless of the venue, he insisted that “the job is still the same. You speak to the crowds as though you’re speaking to them personally.”

“It’s like stepping into a canoe,” he continued. “If you can get over the initial awkwardness, then you can really get somewhere.”

Even though Mulvey remains a Midwesterner, he’s developed an affinity for Port Townsend’s waterfront, as well as for the strong coffee of the Pacific Northwest. He provided an anecdote that has come to define Port Townsend in his mind.

“A friend of mine was hiking and lost their cell phone, so they borrowed someone else’s phone to call their own phone, to try and find it,” Mulvey said. “When they did, the phone was answered by Bill Porter, a.k.a. Red Pine, the American translator of Chinese Buddhist poetry. It was the most Port Townsend thing I’d ever heard.”

Mulvey’s raconteur knack for such tales can be found in his 19 records, along with an illustrated book, a TEDx talk, guest stints on NPR and opening performances for famous names such as Ani DiFranco and Emmylou Harris.

In 2019, Mulvey and his band, SistaStrings, spent five days in a tiny back room, and the resulting live record, “Peter Mulvey with SistaStrings: Live at the Cafe Carpe,” is out now on DiFranco’s Righteous Babe Records.Tickets for Mulvey’s Oct. 25 concert at Palindrome, which starts at 7:30, are $20 online or $25 in cash or check at the door.