Over half a century, Camilleri has risen to the heights of the mainstream, delved into everything from country to funk to reggae, paid tribute to his musical heroes, produced some of the nation’s top acts and been inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame.

Through Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons, The Black Sorrows and numerous other combos, the 66-year-old has helped shape the Australian musical landscape.

So it’s kind of strange to hear him describe music as a pastime.

“I still find (music) really exciting,” he said.

“But it’s my hobby. I find peace inside it. I’m not a workaholic ... well, I don’t think I’m a workaholic.”

Having said that, Camilleri has just recorded albums #46 and #47, which are due to be released on Record Store Day in April — just 12 months since he released The Black Sorrows’ latest effort Certified Blue, which was one of the biggest selling jazz/blues albums in Australia last year.

“I didn’t set out to do it,” he said of the two new albums.

“I just recorded lots of songs by different people ... not necessarily my favourite songs but things that have inspired me.” The two covers album see Camilleri tackling Lou Reed, JJ Cale, John Coltrane, Captain Beefheart, Hank Williams and more — which probably goes some way to explaining why he’s never stayed in one genre for long throughout his career.

“I wanted to pay tribute to those people and find something in the songs themselves, tip my hat to those artists and give those songs another opportunity to be heard (by) people who like what I do.

“It’s a bit of soul food.”

Whether any those covers will be in his sets with The Black Sorrows at this year’s Port Fairy Folk Festival is anyone’s guess. “I don’t have a setlist — I never have a setlist unless it’s for TV or one of those five-song gigs or something,” Camilleri explained.

“A setlist can feel like your just clocking in. I like the drama ... although I don’t know if the band likes the drama.

“It gives me options. I can do this from Certified Blue because it feels good, or something from Dear Children because it feels good, or this one from the Falcons because we need to step it up.

“All my records are a little bit different and I don’t want to make the same record twice and it’s the same (with every gig).”

And while Camilleri has been a regular visitor to the Folkie, he’s hoping this will be a different and more immersive experience for him.

“We’ve got two (sets) this time,” he said.

“We only had one (set) last time because we had another gig in Adelaide or Perth, so we didn’t even get time to smell the hot dogs or the tofu last time.

“I’ve done a few (Port Fairy Folk Festivals). Around 20 years ago I did one and it was a much smaller festival and musically really pushing the folk thing. 

“Now it’s just a big music thing. There’s not too much of the ‘diddly-diddly’,” he laughed.

The 38th annual Port Fairy Folk Festival comes to life from March 6-9.