Iconic punk poet Patti Smith returns to Monterey County for her third performance locally since 2022.

One of the first times the world heard Patti Smith’s voice on a record was from an obscure 1974 solo album by former Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek. On the song “I Wake Up Screaming,” a 27-year-old Smith recites one of Jim Morrison’s poems entitled “Ensenada.” By that time, Morrison, famous for fusing poetry and rock ‘n’ roll, had already died three years earlier at age 27. Smith, however, was just getting started.

This year marks 50 years of touring, writing, rocking and remaining one of the one most iconic personas in the music industry. From the 1975 debut of her phenomenal Horses – an album pivotal to the budding New York punk scene – to her National Book Award-winning memoir Just Kids in 2010, Patti Smith continues to find ways to keep herself relevant. Friday’s visit to the Golden State Theatre will mark her third visit to Monterey County since 2022, after prior shows at Henry Miller Library in Big Sur.

Monterey may come across as a surprising stop for a performer who, on a later date of this tour, has nearly sold out New York’s Madison Square Garden where she will be co-headlining with The National. The question: What is Smith’s draw to our small city? What keeps her coming back?

Perhaps the poetry of the answer is that despite a successful career on multiple artistic fronts – music, literature, photography, acting – Patti Smith is doing exactly what few celebrity parents get the chance to do: Spend quality time with their kids.

In addition to longtime Patti Smith Group bassist Tony Shanahan, Smith’s son Jackson will be performing with her as he has done for nearly a decade. Smith has also provided critical support for the climate awareness nonprofit Pathway to Paris, cofounded by her daughter, Jesse. In her own words, from the lyrics to “Kimberly,” the babes in her arms in her swaddling clothes are all grown up.

Smith has remained true to the rocket charge that launched her career. At age 76, there is still that something in her voice that refuses to quit and continues to inspire one generation after the next. In her own words from her 1975 song “Birdland”:

I won’t give up /Won’t give up/ Don’t let me give up/ I won’t give up…

PATTI SMITH TRIO 8pm Friday, Aug. 11. Golden State Theatre, 417 Alvarado St., Monterey. $50-$85. 649-1070, goldenstatetheatre.com