Singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot entertained at the Napa Valley Opera House Saturday night, his songs telling of loves lost, loves pursued and the winds that blow colder with advancing years.

Lightfoot, whose ’70s hits included “If You Could Read My Mind,” “Sundown” and “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” drew an enthusiastic, near sell-out crowd, mostly of his generational peers.

With his wiry frame, craggy features and shoulder-length hair, Lightfoot was very much an iconic presence, commanding the stage as beloved figure from an earlier time.

Approaching his 71st birthday, this Canadian folk/pop artist sang about the romances of youth and how quickly life passes. His baritone voice is now rough and reedy, giving added poignancy to many of his old songs.

Lightfoot’s songs have been covered by a Who’s Who of singers, including Bob Dylan, Barbra Streisand, Sarah McLachlan, even Elvis. Lightfoot, especially now, trumps them with authenticity. These are his songs, his life.

Lightfoot didn’t banter much with the crowd or share many anecdotes. He’s an all-business guy.

When he did comment on songs, the gist often boiled down to this: Women departing his life, women entering his life, a longing for the special woman back at home.

“If You Could Read My Mind,” an account of his first marriage going bad, drew the strongest audience response and a partial standing ovation halfway through the second set.

“I don’t know where we went wrong/But the feeling’s gone/And I just can’t get it back,” Lightfoot sang. Lightfoot has since departed Napa, but the puddle of heartache deposited by this song on the Opera House floor will be a long time dissipating.

Since his hit-making years, Lightfoot has become an ardent conservationist and celebrant of things Canadian. He treated his Napa audience to “Alberta Bound,” “Canadian Railroad Trilogy” and the very Canada-centric “Ringneck Loon.”

His Opera House performance was sponsored by Canada-born Moira Johnston Block and her husband Dr. Lee Block and attracted a coterie of Canadians waving tiny Canadian flags.

Moira Johnston Block recounted first hearing Lightfoot sing 21 years ago at a rally to save a forest endangered of being clear-cut. The forest was saved.

Lightfoot, who opened the concert wearing a dazzling red jacket, was backed by a four-piece band, veterans who have been with him 30 to 40 years. Their crisp musicianship provided a high-energy backdrop for the aging troubadour of the heart.