Al Stewart at Sanctuary in Chatham on Friday

Al Stewart knows that when it comes to songs about Presidents Warren G. Harding and William McKinley, Sir Thomas More, or Hanno the Navigator, he need not worry about too much competition.

Since he began his recording career 50 years ago, Stewart has proven himself adept at setting a host of historical figures and events in the folk-rock idiom

“I realized that there was room for one person doing this kind of song,” he says with a laugh. “Two might have been a stretch.”

Stewart - best known for his 1976 song “Year of the Cat,” which name-checks Humphrey Bogart and Peter Lorre - will perform his history-rock at the Presbyterian Church in Chatham as part of the Sanctuary Concert series tonight.

The Scottish-born musician traces his interest in history to his student days. Albert Camus’ novel “The Stranger,” which he read in a French literature class, led him to the existentialist Jean-Paul Sartre and his “Roads to Freedom” novels.

Those gateway books led Stewart to devour books about World War II (beginning with “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich” by William L. Shirer), Russian history, and military leaders.

“I’d read about 50 of these things, and I thought they were a lot more interesting than my love life, which is what I had been writing about,” Stewart says.

His first foray into incorporating history was the song “Manuscript” from his 1970 album “Zero She Flies.” The song touches on Prince Louis Battenberg of the British Admiralty, as well as his own grandfather, who fought in World War I.

Three years later, Stewart released the ambitious album “Past, Present and Future,” which culminates in “Nostradamus,” an epic about the seer and his (supposed) prognostications.

“That’s a home-run song when I do it concert, but I don’t do it that often,” he says. The intricate guitar work over the course of nearly 10 minutes takes a toll on his fingers. “After I do it, I have to go back to my dressing room to lick my wounds.”

The success of “Year of the Cat” (both the album and the title song) put Stewart on the map in the United States. “I don’t know what it is about that song,” he says. “I don’t know how (members of) Procul Harum feel about ‘Whiter Shade of Pale.’ ”

“People do seem to like ‘Year of the Cat,’ and they’re happy to hear it,” Stewart continues. “I but I can attest to the fact that other songs go down better.”

He cites the example of “On the Border,” an atmospheric track from the same album.

Stewart admits that he usually comes up with a set list “about 10 minutes” before going on stage. But he is not averse to making changes at the last minute.

He recalls a show in Seattle at which a fan called out for “The News from Spain” from his 1972 album “Orange” that he had not performed in years. The reaction was so positive that he later decided to include it on his acoustic live album, “Uncorked.”

(The title of that album alludes to one of his Stewart’s hobbies: oenology. Stewart says that he actually gave up music for a time in the 1980s to concentrate on studying and collecting wine, specifically red Bordeaux.)

Stewart has not released a studio album since “Sparks of Ancient Light” in 2008.

He continues to write, but he is unsure when or if they will be released.

“CDs have vanished,” he says. “If people aren’t buying them, why should I be making them?”

However, at age 70, he has no plans to stop performing. “This isn’t a business you retire from,” Stewart says. “Look at B. B. King. He was doing 300 dates a year when he was in his 80s.”

“People never voluntarily leave this business,” Stewart says. “Given the chance, if the phone rings, you’ll drop everything you’re doing to play another date.”

AL STEWART

WHEN: 8 tonight

WHERE: Presbyterian Church,

240 Southern Blvd., Chatham

TICKETS: $30

INFO: 973-376-4946 or www.sanctuaryconcerts.org