BIDDEFORD — He’s been in the blues business for more than 50 years. He’s played with Buddy Miles and Jimi Hendrix, and was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2013.

And tonight, Joe Louis Walker will bring his unique mix of blues, rock, soul and jazz to the newly established Vinegar Hill Music Theatre in Arundel.

“I look forward to going up to Maine, because it’s a beautiful state,” Walker said in a phone interview Tuesday.

It might seem like Walker has done it all, but at 66, he shows no signs of slowing down. Even after crafting 25 full-length albums, he still manages to find inspiration.

“Inspiration comes from a lot of things: some personal experience, personal situations, friends, things that are going on in the world today,” he said.

Walker – who sings and plays guitar, harmonica and keyboards – is excited to come back to Maine. In the past, he’s played shows in Rockland, Bangor and “all sorts of places.”

Born on Christmas Day, 1949, Walker’s career began at age 12 when he joined his cousin’s family band. At 14, he began learning guitar.

“It sort of kept (me) out of trouble – serious trouble, anyway – and I think my parents knew that, and knew that I was serious,” Walker said. “I’m fortunate I come from a musical family; my mother and father always supported my musical endeavors.”

In 1968, Walker began rooming with guitarist Mike Bloomfield, who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015 with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. Walker and Bloomfield remained friends until Bloomfield’s death in 1981.

In 1986, Walker’s first album, “Cold is the Night,” was released.

Thirty years and 24 albums later, he’s now on tour promoting 2015’s “Everybody Wants a Piece,” a good portion of which he says fans will hear in Arundel tonight.

But that’s not all blues enthusiasts can expect from the legend. Walker said he and his band will play a variety of “retrospective” songs – some asked for by the crowd, others from the 1980s and 1990s.

“I try not to do every show the same every night,” Walker said. “I get a little bored.”

What Walker will try to do at the former Arundel Barn Playhouse is give listeners an escape from their worries.

“What I try to do is connect with people and, for those three hours, have them let their hair down and try to put aside some of the things bothering them,” Walker said. “That’s what the blues speaks to: the tribulations of life and giving them respite from the problems of the world today.”

And for Walker, the barn setting is ideal: it’s both expansive yet intimate, with a view of the crowd he says he looks forward to with every different show.

“I think that the objective of a musician is to try to connect with as many people as possible,” Walker said. “If you try to connect with somebody – whether it’s connecting with them through something powerful or tribulation – it’s sort of like, you can see 200 to 300 people enjoying themselves all at the same time, or see 200 to 300 people thinking about something you said.

“It can be sort of cathartic.”

Joe Louis Walker plays at 8 tonight at the Vinegar Hill Music Theatre, 53 Old Post Road, Arundel. Tickets are $30 to $40. For more information, visit vinegarhillmusictheatre.com.

— Staff Writer Alan Bennett can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 329 or abennett@journaltribune.com.