The good doctor – Dr. John headlines the 2014 Baton Rouge Blues Festival

What’s the difference between Dr. John and Mac Rebennack?
I don’t think there really is any.

What you see is what you get?
That’s correct.

At 73 years old, Dr. John, a.k.a. Mac Rebennack, a.k.a. The Good Doctor and The Nite Tripper, sounds as raspy as ever over the phone.

In 2013, the New Orleans musician had another breakout year, winning the Best Blues Album Grammy for Locked Down as well as appearing on an episode of Bravo’s Top Chef. In between, he performed with a new band, the Nite Trippers, at Jazz Fest and Voodoo Fest in New Orleans and at the Manship Theatre here in Baton Rouge.

Though his voice is a little worn out when we called him up in late January, he’s hardly tired.

“I love to play music,” he says. “It’s like my old partner [and blues singer] Cousin Joe told me, ‘The best way for a musician to die is to fall over on the last song of the show. You don’t even have to play an encore, and the band gets paid.’ That’s good advice to give youngsters.”

Next month, Dr. John headlines the 20th annual Baton Rouge Blues Festival.

The last time the good doctor performed at the festival was in 1991. He says his previous Blues Fest experience was like past gigs, “kinda melted into a Salvador Dali-like painting.”

However, the musician does remember the Capital City’s wealth of great blues music.

“Baton Rouge had a real great culture,” he says. “You had Tabby Thomas and the whole gang … Some of them played on the other side of the river. It was real typical. Across the river [in Port Allen], you could always see a lot of guys, famous guys working with these bands. Something was happening.”

Like many blues musicians, Dr. John has seen his popularity wax and wane as he ages. Locked Down, which was produced by The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach, introduced Dr. John to a younger demographic attracted to his rootsy sound.

Even with the acclaim and an onslaught of younger fans who see him as a fixture in the New Orleans scene, the singer isn’t satisfied.

“Sometimes, you never know what everybody’s thinking,” he says. “I believe you gotta try to give them everything you got and a little taste of everything. That’s important to me. I feel like if I keep making music, Hey, do what you could do,’ and enjoy yourself. If I’m enjoying myself, the people are going to enjoy themselves. That’s a special maneuver.”

He’s won six Grammy awardsthe first in 1989 and most recently in 2013 for Locked Down.

He was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2011.

He’s played himself in multiple episodes of HBO’s Treme.

Dr. Teeth, the leader of the house band for The Muppet Show, was apparently modeled after Dr. John.

His 1968 debut album Gris Gris is ranked 143rd on Rolling Stone‘s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.