Mississippi Delta blues is raw, but it�s a rawness with which Arcata musician Don Haupt is most-enamored.

�I don�t really think so much about a specific distinction,� he said, because when people think about the blues, they tend to think about a person who is penniless and loveless.

�I have had hard times, but it�s neither here nor there,� he said. �I�m very used to just letting my music speak for itself.�

The solo blues musician will be the opening act for a Dancing Dog Productions show with slide-guitar performer Roy Rogers Saturday at 7 p.m. and 9:45 p.m. in The Red Radish, 140 H St., in Blue Lake.

Rogers, who has performed locally in the past with his backup band The Delta Rhythm Kings, has worked with folk, blues and rock musicians, including Keith Richards, Albert Collins and John Lee Hooker. Rogers helped produce the past four Hooker albums.

The early show is a benefit for the Eureka-based Friends For Life Animal Rescue, a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending the suffering and killing of homeless companion animals in Humboldt County and beyond. Its programs include placing the animals in permanent homes.

Haupt, who was born and raised on a Missouri farm near the Mississippi River, said he grew up with bluegrass music. He learned to play it at age 13 on a banjo, which eventually gave way to National steel and well-worn Martin guitars.

The Delta blues has its origins in African culture, dating back to distinctive expressions and experiences articulated by African slave descendants, who labored as sharecroppers on the Mississippi Delta.

Haupt said he�s had an interest in almost every style of music, but the blues is his favorite.

�What has happened more and more (is my) interest in the blues, especially Delta blues,� he said. �I didn�t pick the blues, the blues picked me.�

Haupt, who has released two CDs, said he doesn�t compose, but improvises old standards and with that improvisation the songs become like his own.

The 14 songs on his 2003 Dancing Dog Productions� release �Steady Rollin� Man,� include the title song by Robert Johnson, as well as Blind Willie Johnson�s �Dark Was the Night.�

�I like the old standards, because they�ve been played by so many people in so many different ways,� he said.

Haupt said he doesn�t know what exactly inspires him to move his fingers up or down a guitar�s neck a certain way at a certain time. It just happens.

�The other night, I was sitting and just playing,� he said. �I hit this one note just right, just messing around. � The songs come to me (and) it�s so much improvisation.

�There�s only one way to play �Stairway To Heaven,� but with the blues, � I go from my gut,� he said.

Haupt will also perform May 8 in North Coast Repertory Theatre in Eureka with slide-guitarist Mike Selfridge for a show titled �A Night of Nationals,� music performed exclusively on National steel guitars.

Haupt said when he performs, he doesn�t do so using an arranged set list.

�I don�t know what I�m going to play,� he said. �I don�t want to put it in a box like that. � It�s all about just connecting with the music and feeling it.�