I sing on key, which is a wonderful plus, and I play guitar a little better than adequately, she said.

Her vocal style has been compared to that of Bonnie Raitt and Michelle Shocked, and she recently opened a show for the Little River Band in St. Louis, where Rock currently hails from.

It’s tough to be a warm up act, she said. but if you can survive it and make just two more fans, then you’ve won.

She said she will play some of her original music, as well as some songs Raitt wrote before she was signed to a major label. She will also perform songs by local songwriters.

Last year a couple of people had their stuff (songs) purchased because I was doing their stuff, she said.

Rock, originally from California, was traveling the United States and Europe with a band before deciding to settle in the Midwest in 1983.

I discovered that the Midwest is great, she said. Here, a person is first, it’s not the kind of person you are that matters, it’s who you really are. I liked it, so I stayed, built up a family of people, and I rediscovered myself.

That came on the heels of what Rock

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described as one of the worst times in her life. She had just lost the last of her childhood friends, and she was considering hanging up her gloves.

That was the last straw, she said. The ones who really knew me well were all gone. I lost heart. I found myself thinking maybe I should just manage a club and let other people perform.’

But I took a deep breath and decided to start again. I keep all my friends in my heart.

Now back in full performance gear, Rock has garnered several honors. The Riverfront Times ranked her first among St. Louis area folk musicians, and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch said she reminds you of Joan Baez.

I like to be connected with people, Rock said. Tonight, she will have a good chance of making that connection, because as Cousin Andy’s promoter Vern Crawford puts it, it’s not a bar, it’s a listening room.

Anyone who wants to sing along, well they can be in the band too, Rock said. That’s why I title all my stuff Georgy Rock and friends.