If you're an activist songwriter of a certain age who has fought the good fight for decades, does the current state of the world feed the Muse or make you wish you'd gone into an isolated career like bear research in the wilds of Alaska?

For the long-inspired (and inspirational) singer-songwriter Iris Dement, the answer is easily found in the single she released last year, "We Won't Keep Quiet." With a simple, gospel-flavored chorus that vows resistence "no matter what they do," Dement rails against the current administration with the same spirit and fervor that have typified her career — and made fans of such artists as Steve Earle, Merle Haggard, Emmylou Harris, David Byrne and John Prine.

From her 1992 debut "Infamous Angel" through 2015's "Trackless Woods" and, yes, "We Won't Keep Quiet," Dement and her ethereally beautiful voice have chronicled a lifetime believing in the positive possibilities of the human heart — sometimes against bleak odds. See Dement when she performs Wednesday at the Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center.

Iris Dement, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center, 300 Main St., Old Saybrook; Pieta Brown opens; $45-$48; 1-877-503-1286.