Husband, wife have been performing four decades; play Saturday in Reading

READING – After 40 years, Lynne Jackson and her husband Mike Palter, a Lynn native, are still making music together.The couple will perform in a special 40th Anniversary show celebrating the release of their new CD on Saturday at 3 p.m. in Reading.Jackson, who was born in Brooklyn and moved to Swampscott when she was 13, is a 1965 graduate of Swampscott High School. After her graduation she drifted around the country and in 1967 was living in Boston Common when she met Palter, who was a professor of English Literature.”When we met, she was a street person and I was a professor of English Literature,” Palter said. “People call us the hippie and the professor. I stopped teaching when we started touring but we’re still the hippie and the professor.”The couple hit the road and started performing gigs around the country. Jackson said she recalls being so destitute during some of the time they were on the road that she would look for change under benches at country clubs. One big break came in 1977, when the duo was asked to perform on the Dinah Shore Show. Jackson was having a miscarriage and had just been released from the emergency room – but she didn’t miss the curtain call.”Music has an incredible influence in the world,” she said. “We hope a simple song can lead to a little more peace in the world.”Since that time, the duo, which has performed together for four decades and made its Carnegie Hall debut in 1986, is best known for their renditions of songs written by others. But Palter, who refers to himself as one of the original rabble rousers, said they have also made their mark with some original compositions, the most notable of which was the “We Dream of a Brighter Day” anthem for UNICEF. Their song “Lullaby” was used to raise money for prosthetic limbs for war-injured children in Central America and the duo has been bringing music into the lives of children at KIPP Academy in Lynn.If You Go?The concert is Saturday at 3 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Reading, 239 Woburn St., Reading. Tickets are $20 at the door. Reservations may be made by calling 978-526-8620.