Veteran singer-guitarist Jesse Lee Kincaid plays Twin Oaks Roadhouse

Jesse Lee Kincaid may be one of the most famous musicians you’ve never heard of. During his long career, he has? worked with Taj Mahal, Ry Cooder, Leon Russell and Maria Muldaur, and after nearly six decades as a performer, he’s still at it.

When he plays Saturday at the Twin Oaks Tavern in Penngrove, the 73-year-old veteran singer and guitarist will bring his musical history with him.

“I started out in Hollywood, and I went to the East Coast when I was 19. I drove my 1953 Pontiac on Route 66 to New York City to be a folksinger. That was the plan, but I didn’t like New York much, so I went on to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where I met Taj Mahal in one of the little folk clubs and we made a music duo together for a few months,” Kincaid said.

“When the winter of ‘64 came along, and it was cold in the East, I suggested that we go back to Hollywood, so Taj and I drove cross-country together,” he recalled. “Then things just started to happen.”

Kincaid and Mahal formed a blues rock band called Rising Sons, which also included a 17-year-old Ry Cooder, who went on to fame as a slide guitarist, songwriter, film score composer and record producer.

“I knew Ry Cooder already because he had studied with my uncle, Fred Gerlach, who was a 12-string guitar player who recorded for Folkways Records,” Kincaid said. “Fred was kind of an unknown legend.”

The Rising Sons played in the Los Angeles clubs The Troubadour and The Ash Grove, and were signed by Columbia Records.

“The Rising Sons - which was Taj, Ry, myself and two other guys - went to the studio quite often to record. It was the same one where The Byrds were recording and sometimes we’d be coming in for our session us just as The Byrds finished theirs,” Kincaid said. “The thing is, we just never got a hit single. Consequently, Columbia didn’t release our album at the time.”

Bootleg recordings of The Rising Sons’ album circulated for several decades, until Columbia finally released it in 1992, under the title “Rising Sons Featuring Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder.”

“The record company didn’t want to peak too soon on that one, I guess,” Kincaid joked. “By that time, Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder had become icons, so the company knew it could sell a record with those names on it.”

Meanwhile, iconic status eluded Kincaid.

“I didn’t think about that. I just wanted to play folk music. Maybe if I’d thought about being an icon, I might have gone about it differently. It was more of a learning experience for me,” he said.

“After the Rising Sons, I was signed as a solo artist to Capitol Records, then signed with Leon Russell, who produced me on a single titled ‘Floating’ released on Fontana records.”

During that time, Kincaid also attended California Institute of the Arts on a classical guitar scholarship and studied sitar at Ravi Shankar’s school in Los Angeles.

“I started playing guitar when I was 11 years old. That just captured my imagination and I’ve been chasing that music ever since,” he said. “Of course, I’ve traveled in the world and had various kinds of jobs from time to time, but basically it’s been music.”

Kincaid’s travels included a trip to Europe in 1969 that ended up lasting six years, while he played music and enjoyed “the vibe” at Spanish island arts colonies.

That ultimately inspired him to write a book titled “Ibiza,” named after one of the islands and published in 2014.

“Right now, I’m working on another book about The Rising Sons,” he said.

Also in 2014, he released his solo album, “Brief Moments Full Measure,” recorded in Sausalito.

“Taj Mahal joined me a couple of tracks and Maria Muldaur sang,” Kincaid said.

Don Henley, of The Eagles, recorded Kincaid’s song “She Sang Hymns Out of Tune” for Henley’s 2015 album, “Cass County.”

The intervening decades have seen Kincaid performing with various musicians, as he ultimately migrated to the Bay Area, finally settling in Santa Rosa two years ago.

Last year, Kincaid came together with bassist Pat Campbell and drummer Robin Zickel to form the band that will perform this weekend in Penngrove. Maria Muldaur’s lead guitarist, Craig Caffall, also will play at the show.

With a long and varied career to draw from and new musicians to collaborate with, Kincaid sees no reason to retire.

“I don’t know what 73 years old is supposed to look like, but people tell me I look younger, and I tell them that’s because I never had to have a real job and get burned out,” he said. “I’m a musician.”

You can reach staff writer Dan Taylor at 707-521-5243 or dan.taylor@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @danarts.