The Rooster's Wife announces that blues master Chris Smither will perform Sunday, Oct. 28, at Poplar Knight Spot in downtown Aberdeen.

Smither will present his latest album, "Hundred Dollar Blues," a collection of cosmic blues - feelings and situations familiar to us all.

The shows continue Sunday evenings through Dec. 16, with a special Wednesday holiday show from Craver, Hicks, Watson and Newberry, Dec. 19.

The year will end with the IBMA Performers of the Year, the Gibson Brothers, on Dec. 30.

There is seating inside and outside under the awning and under the stars. Picnics are welcome.

A profound songwriter, Smither draws deeply from the blues, American folk music, modern poets and philosophers. Reviewers continue to praise his dazzling guitar work, gravelly voice and songwriting.

Smither was born in Miami during World War II, and grew up in New Orleans. He first began playing music as a child in the Crescent City. The son of a Tulane University professor, his uncle taught him the rudiments on his mother's ukulele.

"Uncle Howard," Smither says, "showed me that if you knew three chords, you could play a lot of the songs you heard on the radio. And if you knew four chords, you could pretty much rule the world."

With that bit of knowledge under his belt, he was hooked.

"I'd loved acoustic music, specifically the blues, ever since I first heard Lightnin' Hopkins' 'Blues In My Bottle' album. I couldn't believe the sound Hopkins got. At first I thought it was two guys playing guitar. My style, to a degree, came out of trying to imitate that sound I heard."

In his early 20s, Smither turned his back on his anthropology studies and headed to Boston at the urging of legendary folk singer Eric von Schmidt. In the mid-'60s, acoustic music thrived in the streets and coffeehouses there. Smither forged lifelong friendships with many musicians, including Bonnie Raitt, who went on to record his songs, "Love Me Like a Man" and "I Feel the Same."

What quickly evolved from his New Orleans and Cambridge musical experiences and influence is his enduring, singular guitar sound; a beat-driven finger-picking style, strongly influenced by the playing of Mississippi John Hurt and Lightnin' Hopkins, layered over the ever-present backbeat of his rhythmic, tapping feet.

Admission to this week's concert is $25 in advance, $28 at the door. Children under 12 are always free, in an effort to develop the next generation of music lovers. Seating deference is given to the paying adults.

Poplar Knight Spot is located at 114 Knight St. in downtown Aberdeen, two blocks east of U.S. 1 at the Rent a Wreck sign.

The doors open at 6 pm for Sunday shows.

Moses Atwood will open the show.

For more information, or to purchase tickets, visit theroosterswife.org, call (910) 944-7502 or email theroosterswife@yahoo.com.