VIENNA — The Vienna Union Hall Association will host blues players “Poor Howard” Stith and Mike “Bullfrog” Rogers at 7 p.m. Friday, June 24, at 5 Mountain Road.

Stith has been performing 12-string barrelhouse blues for over 40 years. As a student of Dave “Snaker” Ray in Minneapolis, he perfected his 12-string guitar style and showed that delta blues could be found at both ends of the Mississippi.

This led a fellow Minneapolis performer to tag him with the moniker “Poor Howard,” after the Leadbelly song.

Over the years, he has performed across the U.S., Europe and Japan, entertaining audiences in coffeehouses, bars and at festivals with his dazzling guitar, heartfelt voice and seemingly endless supply of anecdotes, puns and shaggy dog stories. He has shared the stage with such notable blues performers as John Jackson, Archie Edwards and Peg Leg Sam.

Stith’s blues style is drawn from the tradition of Huddie Ledbetter (Leadbelly) and Blind Willy McTell, incorporating a powerful bass line along with flashy finger picking.

Recently, Stith has teamed up with harmonica player Mike “Bullfrog” Rogers, a 40-year veteran whose styles range from folk to blues. In the past, he has opened for performers including Emmie Lou Harris, the Eagles, Jonathan Edwards, James Montgomery, John Paul Hammond and Luther Guitar Johnson. He also appears with the groups Salt River and Wooden Eye, and has appeared on over 30 CDs.

Rogers has been a professional musician most of his life. Heavily influenced by the great Sonny Terry, Rogers has his own blend of country and blues harp that translates to both electric and acoustic styles. Rogers started his professional career at the side of Balladeer and Poet Laureate, John Perrault, in 1968.

He is a member of Wooden Eye in Portsmouth, N.H., which originally started out as a recording project but has since become a live band.

He is also a poet and teaches harmonica workshops with his wife Beverly. They also perform with Lee Hosack as the Salt River Trio.

Tickets are $8 in advance or $10 at the door.

FMI, tickets: 207-293-2674, [email protected].