To borrow from Langston Hughes, a lifetime of making music as an independent artist ain’t been no crystal stair for Vancouver Island singer-songwriter Steve Palmer, but from the sounds of it, it’s a life he wouldn’t trade for anything.

“It just gets to be more fun as you go along,” Palmer says from his Nanaimo-area home. “The more positive you are, and the more energy you put into it, the more you get out of it.”

Palmer has spent decades traveling the highways of Western Canada, starting as a guitarist for folk-rock bands back in the 1970s. It took a while for him to realize it, but a solo career as a singer and guitar player was really the form in which Palmer was best suited for success.

“I don’t really miss the band thing,” he says. “You’ve got a lot of responsibility when it comes to trying to keep the band together, practising, tight. There was a time there for about 10 years where that kept me from writing anything.”

Freed from the burden of bandmates, Palmer recorded “From Here to Nashville” in 2003, an album that included eight original songs as well as several cover tunes. When those tracks were finally laid down, after a process that took the better part of 14 months, Palmer was relieved.

“Back in the 70s I had an opportunity to record an album, but I passed on it. I’m a little late getting around to it, but at that point in time I wasn’t singing much and I wasn’t comfortable with the sound of my voice on tape.”

His voice is something that Palmer continues to work on.

“It’s kind of like a golf swing,” he says. “You’re always fine tuning it.”

Music lovers in Jasper will have a chance to hear Palmer’s finely tuned vocal chops on July 16, as he is in town performing a one-night engagement at the Jasper United Church.

Palmer is touring in support of his most recent recording, “Roots and Strings”, an album Palmer produced in collaboration with several other artists from Vancouver Island.

While he’ll be playing a fair amount of original material at his Jasper show, expect to hear some folk-rock-country standards as well.

“I know so many songs, so sometimes I’ll throw a Johnny Cash tune in there,” he says. “It depends on where the crowd’s at. I’ve been playing for almost 40 years, so you get a sense of what people want to hear.”

After stopping off in Jasper, Palmer plans to tour Ontario in the fall before taking a trip overseas in the winter.

“They say the kind of thing I’m doing is very popular in Germany, so we’ll be trying that,” he says. Tickets for the Jasper show are $10 and available at the door.