Marc Mailhot sings and plays the piano Aug. 21 for residents of the Sarah Frye Home in Auburn. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

LISBON — When Marc Mailhot reached his 50th year of performing music, he tried a new direction.

The lifelong musician, who played in bands during the golden era of rock ‘n’ roll, decided to play a series of concerts at retirement homes. His parents, who were also musicians, had done it years prior, and Mailhot knew how much seniors who might have difficulty going out for a show enjoyed it when one was brought to them.

“I figured folks in nursing homes can’t get out as much to a club or bar so why don’t we bring the music to them?” he said. “Music is like a universal language.”

Mailhot, now 73, said he’s created a “circuit” of retirement and nursing homes in the area, where he performs three or four times a month. In August, the Sun Journal caught up with him at the Sarah Frye Home in Auburn. He also plays regularly at the Odd Fellows’ and Rebekahs’ Home in Auburn, among others.

“We get them singing and everything else, and sometimes they’ll even get up and dance,” he said. “It’s great.”

He said he loves to encourage audience participation, and plays a selection of songs catered to an older crowd, from Doris Day to classic Gershwin tunes.

Mailhot grew up in Westbrook, where he lived until moving to Lisbon with his wife in 2019. As a young child, he was classically trained on piano by a concert pianist named Louis Sirois, who lived across the street. Mailhot’s mother was also gifted on the piano, he said, and his father was a singer.

Mailhot said he’s now been performing for 64 years. He considers his first performance a piano recital when he was nine. He went on to play in several bands in the ’60s and ’70s, including as the drummer in the Maine group Love, Inc., which he said was the first Maine band to chart three singles in the late ’60s and early ’70s. Love, Inc. was also the first band to record a a full-length album at the former EAB Studios in Lewiston.

His band Pegasus opened for Bob Seger in Portland in 1973.

Joanne Cole, foreground, and Joanne Jackson sing along on Aug. 21 with Marc Mailhot at the Sarah Frye Home in Auburn. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

He’s also previously played in a Beatles tribute band, and considers himself a Beatles scholar, or “Beatle-ologist.” Mailhot has also worked as a substitute teacher for 18 years, the last six at Oak Hill High School.

He still performs at other music venues as well, including last Friday at Sawyer Memorial in Greene, where he did afternoon and evening shows.

In previous years, Mailhot’s wife, Betty, has taken part in performances with a routine the couple put together based on the song “There’s a Hole in the Bucket,” by Harry Bellafonte and Odetta.

“I love to play. It’s a gift I’ve been given from my mother and the good lord and I try to use it the best I can,” he said.

Mailhot will be back at the Odd Fellows this month, and he’s looking forward to it. He said he rehearses often, thinking up new ideas for the shows.

“I try to make them forget about their troubles and if they’re feeling poorly I try to brighten them up, and to see their faces smiling and enjoying what I do brings me a great deal of joy,” he said.

When asked about his plans for the future, and if he’d ever retire from performing, Mailhot said he plans to “perform until I drop.”

“That’s the plan anyway,” he said. “I’d like to think I’m like the Energizer bunny, I just want to keep going, you know.”

Betty Lebrun Mailhot sings “There’s a Hole in the Bucket” on Sept. 7, 2023, accompanied by her husband, musician Marc Mailhot of Lisbon, during the La Rencontre luncheon at the Franco Center in Lewiston. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal