An affable man with an easy laugh, one might not guess upon first meeting Paul Kaye that he spends much of his time singing the blues. Put him behind a guitar, however, and the Racine resident is right at home playing songs like "Big Boss Man," "You Got to Move," "Catfish Blues" and many more.

On Friday night, Feb. 13, you can see and hear Kaye in action along side Mississippi Delta blues legend David "Honeyboy" Edwards at Milwaukee's Times Cinema (see information at the end of the story). And, if you want to immerse yourself in the Windy City blues, you can join Kaye at one of his frequent gigs in Chicago's blues clubs, or perhaps at next summer's Chicago Blues Festival in Grant Park - an event he has played many times.

You don't have to go that far, however, to hear the New York native do his thing. Now a resident of Racine, Kaye plays at Shillings Irish Pub, 611 Wisconsin Ave., on the third Saturday of every month. You can also catch him there playing mandolin with the local Irish group The Pure Drop.

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If You Go

WHAT: David "Honeyboy" Edwards, with Paul Kaye and Michael Frank

WHEN: 8 p.m. Friday

WHERE: Times Cinema, 5906 W. Vliet St., Milwaukee

COST: General admission tickets are $15 each.

INFO: For tickets call (414) 453-3128 or go to http://www.timescinema.com

For more about Paul Kaye, go to http://www.paulkayeguitar.com

For more about David "Honeyboy" Edwards go to http://www.davidhoneyboyedwards.com

Paul Kaye will also be performing in Racine on the following dates:

- 9 p.m. Feb. 21, Paul Kaye's Mardi Gras Special (New Orleans Blues) at Shillings Irish Pub, 611 Wisconsin Ave. No cover. Info: (262) 632-6389.

- 9 p.m. Feb. 28, playing mandolin with The Pure Drop (traditional Irish) at Shillings. No cover charge.

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While he's loved the blues since he was a youngster, Kaye is a versatile performer who has played a wide range of music throughout his career. In his early teens, he was mentored by Peter Pichow, the son of folk legend Jean Richie. And as a young man - while earning a degree in philosophy - he played in everything from small jazz combos and rock groups to old-time bluegrass get-togethers.

"I wanted to play and my ears were wide open," he says of his early musical music days.

It was the blues, though, that brought him to Chicago and convinced him to stay in the Midwest. And it will be the blues that he'll be playing tomorrow night with "Honeyboy," with whom he tours and performs on a regular basis.

Here are Kaye's thoughts on the blues and a few other things:

Q: You play and enjoy a variety of musical styles. Is there one genre that is your favorite to perform?

A: If someone told me that I can only play one thing the rest of my life, I would have to pick country blues guitar. That's what excited me about music in the first place and its never lost its grip. It always seemed to me to be the foundation to everything that is American music. Everybody who ever becomes a musician can play some blues in one form or another - from Ornette Coleman to John Mayer.

Q: What is it that drew you to the guitar, rather than some other instrument?

A: I can't remember ever not being intrigued by it. Some of my earliest memories are of pretending to play the guitar. I remember having a plastic guitar when I was young and before long it was all cracked and had no strings because I played it so much. I would organize my friends into pretend bands and I would always be the guitar player. Maybe it was the time. Back in the mid 1960s and early '70s was when the Beatles, Hendrix and Eric Clapton were big and that kind of music was all around. Every band had to have a smokin' guitar player in it. And so much of the music then had the essence of the blues.

Q: What have you learned from playing with "Honeyboy" Edwards?

A: I've learned that I can play with anyone, that's the bottom line. His style is extremely idiosyncratic and he is known for not paying attention to conventional standards. But, that comes from the depth of his roots in the Delta style. If you can do it, you can play with anyone. To play with "Honeyboy" is the height of paying attention and being able to focus. If my mind isn't focused, for whatever reason, he leaves me in the dust.

Q: Why are the blues such an enduring art form?

A: The standard answer is that it is a universal feeling. If you are doing it right, it's got a strong rhythm. It's dance music too and everyone likes dance music. We could probably ask the same question of Bach and Handel - why is their music so enduring? There are other reasons, musically, but when (blues) music was created it was essentially brand new music in America and it took a long time for people to understand that it sounds good. The key to listening to blues is to just sit back and enjoy it. Let it make you want to feel good. We may be singing about sad things, but we're also making you feel good. It's kind of a split personality music.