Taj Mahal returns to the Rogue Valley for one show Thursday, Feb. 15, at the Craterian Ginger Rogers Theater in Medford, and he'll be bringing drummer Kester Smith and bassist Bill Rich with him.

It is probably no exaggeration to say that no contemporary musician has had more influence in revitalizing and preserving traditional acoustic blues than the contemporary blues/world music singer and multi-instrumentalist. He has taken a musicologist's interest in international roots music in recent years, but he says he'll never leave the blues entirely.

"The blues is a tone that puts me in contact with a lot of things, culturally, spiritually, cosmically," he says on his Web site, www.taj-mo-roots.com. "I really enjoy it, and I'm not going to let it go, because it's that good."

He's a longtime Rogue Valley favorite, packing venues over the years from the old Jazmin's in Ashland to the Britt Festivals in Jacksonville and the Rogue Theatre in Grants Pass. His remarkable voice ranges from gravelly to smooth, and he plays more than 20 instruments, including the National Steel and Dobro guitars and the piano.

His music has been described as Afro-Caribbean blues, folk-world-blues, hula blues, folk-funk and other hyphenations. Whatever you call it, there are all these: Caribbean, Hawaiian, African, Latin and Cuban sounds and rhythms mixing with folk, jazz, zydeco, gospel, rock, pop, soul and R&B — all atop a country blues foundation.

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What ties it all together is Mahal's abiding interest in discovery, particularly in tracing many American forms back to their roots in Africa and Europe. He has spent time in the Caribbean, West Africa, Hawaii, Europe, the South Pacific, Australia, South America and more, and his music reflects it.

Born Henry St. Claire Fredericks in Harlem on May 17, 1942, he grew up in Springfield, Mass. His father, a jazz pianist of Caribbean descent, and his mother, a gospel-singing schoolteacher from South Carolina, encouraged their children to respect their roots. His father had an extensive record collection. His parents started him on classical piano lessons, but after two weeks, he says, "It was already clear I had my own concept of how I wanted to play."

He says the name Taj Mahal came to him in a dream. He played in a college party band, The Elektras, until he left in 1964 for the blues-heavy L.A. club scene and formed The Rising Sons with Ry Cooder and others. The Rising Sons opened for Otis Redding, Sam the Sham, The Temptations, and Martha and the Vandellas, and the young singer played with such legends as Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Junior Wells, Buddy Guy, Lightin' Hopkins and others.

These experiences went into three influential early records: "Taj Mahal" (1967), "The Natch'l Blues" (1968), and "Giant Step/De Old Folks at Home" (1969). Travels in the 1970s and a move to Hawaii in the '80s expanded his horizons still further. Since 2000, he has released a second Grammy-winning album, "Shoutin' in Key" (2000) and recorded a second album with The Hula Blues, "Hanapepe Dream" (2003).

Turning his back on the big labels, he founded the independent Kandu Records to distribute his music.

"I walk with the energy of music every day," he says. "I don't have to turn it on to hear it play."

Taj Mahal's show is at 8 p.m. at the Craterian Theater, 23 S. Central Ave., Medford. Tickets cost $38 and $42; discounts are available for students and seniors. See www.oneworldseries.org or call 779-3000.