E-Mail This Article to a Friend Roots report Looking ahead to blues, folk, and world music BY TED DROZDOWSKI

"Forty-seven years in folk music is an astounding number," says Betsy Siggins, director of the non-profit Passim Center organization. The number is also something of a talisman for Club Passim, the center’s most visible arm and one of the nation’s most important folk venues. That’s why Club Passim is getting a jump on its golden anniversary this spring with an event that looms over the rest of the season’s roots-music calendar.

"47@47" is the name of a three-day celebration marking the Harvard Square institution’s near half-century of presenting music, first at its original location at 47 Mount Auburn Street, when it was known as Club 47, and then at its current 47 Palmer Street home, where it became Club Passim.

"It’s exciting to be able to celebrate the consistency of a place that created an æsthetic and a community that shaped the lives of so many of us who were part of the ’60s folk scene in Cambridge and helped us find ourselves through music," says Schmidt, who began her own career at Club 47. "So many people have been motivated to remain involved through all the decades from Club 47’s founding through the establishment of the Passim Center’s educational and historic programs and to maintain their ties to music. So many artists and others have donated their time and devoted their energy. That’s why this celebration seems extremely meaningful."

The concerts, which benefit the Passim Center, begin on Thursday May 19 at Harvard’s Sanders Theatre with "47@47: A Retrospective." The night features musicians who represent four decades of the club’s history, including host Tom Rush, Lori McKenna, Ellis Paul, and the Silver Leaf Gospel Singers, a Roxbury-based group who recently celebrated their own half-century mark. The second show, on May 20, will be a Living Legends Award Concert in honor of Bob Jones, a fixture of the early Cambridge folk and Club 47 scene — which were synonymous — and a key figure in the history and booking of the Newport Folk Festival.

"Bob, or Jonesy, as we always called him, began organizing hootenannies and singing endlessly long English ballads in the Club 47 days," Schmidt recalls. "Little did we know the passion that he had would grow into a life celebrating and endorsing folk music in all its styles. In a world full of awards, this one is especially meaningful." Richard Thompson, Geoff Muldaur, Ollabelle, Dar Williams, and other major performers will honor Jones, who has been battling a neurological illness.

"47@47" concludes with "Festival 47: A Concert for Cambridge," which brings a major free music presentation to Cambridge Common, in Harvard Square, for the first time in decades. The day will begin at 11 a.m. with a children’s performance. Chris Smither, the Resophonics, Jim Kweskin, Jake Armerding, Rachael Davis, Jabe Bayer, Christopher Williams, Sarah Borges, and the Loomers are among the artists scheduled to follow. Tickets to the Sanders events are already on sale; call (617) 496-2222, or drop in to the Harvard box office in Holyoke Center.

Club Passim is a terrific coffeehouse, but the last time the great songwriter and guitarist Dave Alvin played there, he kept telling us how badly he wanted a beer. Maybe that’s why he’s bringing his acoustic duo to Johnny D’s, the club and restaurant at 17 Holland Street in Somerville’s Davis Square (617-776-2004) on April 27. All the same, his Passim gig was exceptional as he plumbed the Great American Songbook and dipped into his own back pages, plucking tunes from his solo albums, his brief stint in X, and, of course, his historic recordings with the Blasters. Local songwriter Tim Gearon, who recently cut a compelling album’s worth of acoustic numbers that deserve to be released, will air some of them before Alvin takes the stage.

Alvin is one of many artists visiting the area this spring who’ll be channeling the spirits of the past. Rory Block will be celebrating her return to her acoustic blues roots with her new From the Dust (Telarc) when she plays the Regattabar (in the Charles Hotel, 1 Bennett Street in Harvard Square; 617-395-7757) on April 2. A week later, April 9, at the R-Bar, blues piano great David Maxwell will mark the domestic release of his Max Attack (95 North) with an all-star band featuring Per Hansen and other local hotshots.

Johnny D’s has a full, varied menu of roots-music shows in April: the zydeco of Li’l Anne & Hot Cayenne on the 1st, reggae band Westbound Train on the 7th, English songwriter Jez Lowe on the 12th, bluesman Luther "Guitar" Junior Johnson on the 16th, and folk musicians Chuck Brodsky and Heather Waters on the 26th. It’s a rare outing for Johnson, who used to be a regular on the local blues circuit. Nonetheless, this 65-year-old veteran of Muddy Waters’s band and the Chicago blues scene remains at the peak of his stagecraft. He’ll also bring his Magic Sam–influenced style to Union Blues in Worcester (2 Washington Square; 508-767-2587), in the city’s marvelous restored railroad station, on May 13 and 14. Another popular artist who’s been absent from Boston-area stages recently is Nicole Nelson: she’s relocated to New York City, but she’ll be back at Johnny D’s, her local home base, on May 28.