Some things only improve with age, and folk legend Judy Collins is one of them. After five decades of performing, she's still going strong.

Collins just released a new album, "Silver Skies Blue," with songwriter Ari Hest, and her newest PBS special, "Judy Collins: A Love Letter to Stephen Sondheim," airs Wednesday, August 24 at 7:30pm on WGBH2. If you donate to WGBH, you can also receive tickets to see Judy Collins live at the Wilbur Theatre on Sunday, October 9 at 7:30pm. 

Highlights from the interview include:

On the new album: 

COLLINS: I have worked with Ari for the last four years. We’ve done some shows together. I love that song, "Strangers Again," so I recorded that and put a bunch of artists on that album, including Jackson Browne and Jimmy Buffet and Willie Nelson and Ari Hest. Then he and I decided, 'Well, that went so well, let’s try writing together and doing an album together,' which we did. "Silver Skies Blue" just came out in June...I’ve haven’t done that many duets, honestly. I did a duet with Stephen Stills, I did one with Joan Baez, I did one with T. G. Sheppard many, many years ago, but I've never really done this and certainly have never written with anybody and then recorded with them. Ari’s voice is just too good to pass up.

On how she believes she's gotten better with age:

COLLINS: I sound a lot better! Clearer, stronger, over years that I’ve learned how to do what I do even better, I think. …I had a great teacher, and I studied with him for 32 years, and my focus is on something he taught which is called "bel canto," which just means clarity and phrasing, basically. So I was very lucky. I hung in with him while everyone was going down to Max’s Kansas City and I was wondering why I wasn’t going with them. I was standing in his studio—looking at paintings by De Koonig and Arshile Gorky, who were both friends of his—thinking, 'What am I doing here?' But I stayed. That’s why I sing the way I sing. In a way, yes, the surgery probably saved my career but the singing part is all due to Max. … I thank God for him every day of my life, because I would not be doing what I’m doing.

I also don't scream, don't smoke, don't drink, don't go to midnight parties, don't hang out. Look, I missed the boat. Somebody said, 'Would you like a Scotch and soda?' I said, 'You're way too late!'

On how she lives while on the road:

COLLINS:  I have to live like an athlete because I travel so much. I have to learn how to stretch, have to learn how to eat, have to learn how to be healthy in all the ways that one does. But I also don’t scream, don’t smoke, don’t drink, don’t go to midnight parties, don’t hang out. Look, I missed the boat. Somebody said, 'Would you like a Scotch and soda?' I said, 'You’re way too late!'

On her exercise routine:

COLLINS: I exercise every day, almost without  exception. At home, I have a stationary bike and I also have a treadmill, and I do floor exercises pretty regularly. I came to the Lenox and stayed at the Lenox, beautiful hotel, and while I watched the Jimmy Carter "American Experience" show which was on last night, I ran. I usually have my weights with me, and I run around the room. That’s what I do. I have done that for 40 years. If you’re going to exercise every day, you have to figure out a way to make it easy. 

To hear more from Judy Collins, tune in to Boston Public Radio above.