John Latini, like Cape Girardeau, is hard to fit into one musical category. His music is a high-energy blend of rock, folk and blues.

Latini kicked off his Southeast Missouri run Thursday night at Stooges in Jackson and is set to showcase his versatility in Cape Girardeau at 9 p.m. today at Port Cape and at 7 p.m. Saturday at Dockside with special guest Doug E. Rees.

Latini, who records with Smokin' Sleddog Records, performed in Cape Girardeau in April, striking up friendships along the way with both Rees and Cape Girardeau blues favorite Bruce Zimmerman.

"He's a great player, but also I just liked him," Latini said of Zimmerman. "It would be nice having him at my show, having gone to see him the last time I was at Port Cape. Doug, of course, is a fantastic player. Last time, we each did our own sets, but we also jammed with each other within those sets, a couple of songs, you know."

As a testament to his musical versatility, Latini has been honored with musical awards in a variety of categories and genres from music organizations in Texas, North Carolina and Michigan. He won the Detroit Blues Challenge in 2008 and 2009.

"Being that I do this as a profession, I've had to balance my approach," he said. "The blues is just one of the genres I work in. I also have records that are like singer-songwriter, just a guy strumming and singing songs."

The New York native was born in 1958, as radio was just beginning to recognize rock 'n' roll, and Latini was exposed to plenty of it.

His Irish and Italian parents also introduced him to traditional music from their respective heritages.

Aside from native acts like the Irish folk group The Clancy Brothers, for his parents, "the main catalog ranged from Harry Belafonte to Hank Williams to Middle Eastern belly dancing music."

But Latini said the music goes deeper inside him, describing his father as a natural when it comes to dancing.

"My mom turned us on to different styles of music, but my dad is a fantastic dancer," Latini said. "He's like Fred Astaire, and I know that's where I get an innate sense of rhythm. It seems to me that rhythm should come naturally in people. Melody and harmony gets to be like math. But rhythm, how can you not feel that, you know?"

After seeing a popular rock band from Liverpool, England, on television one night, Latini said he felt compelled to become a professional musician.

"I was a little younger than most everybody that was being swept up with the craze," Latini said. "I was like 5 or something when the Beatles first played on [[OpenSingle]The Ed Sullivan Show'], you know. I remember thinking, 'My God! Did you see that?' Like, chicks were fainting. I thought, 'This is unbelievable. I want to be like that.'"

Whether he's performing as a solo artist, a sideman in someone else's band or participating in a family sing-along, Latini said it was the collaborative process that first attracted him to music, and it's what keeps him going.

"I love that relationship with other musicians. The sharing, that's what so cool about it," he said.