Ask Lloyd Jones how to describe his soulful and intelligent fusion of funk, blues and R&B and he’ll call it “storytelling with a Memphis groove.”

The Northwest guitarist and singer/songwriter brings that groove to the San Juan Community Theatre on Saturday, 7:30 p.m.

Jones was born in Seattle into a musical family (he moved to Portland shortly after his birth). “My dad was playing Dixieland jazz records and trying to teach me to play trumpet when I was only five years old,” Jones said.

But it was his older brother who taught him how to play the drums, and by age 13, Jones was joining in his brother’s gigs.

By the early 1970s, Jones got deep into the blues and was the leader of Portland’s most popular blues bands, Brown Sugar. The band began working with touring musicians like Charlie Musslewhite and Big Mama Thornton. That’s when Lloyd says he got into the guitar, creating a style that has been described as both “delicate and devastating.”

By the mid-’80s, songwriting also became part of his groove. He recorded “The Lloyd Jones Struggle” in 1987, the first of several acclaimed albums.

Today, Jones and his band have become a mainstay on the West Coast circuit and have shared their crowd-pleasing brand of rockin’ blues from New Orleans to Canada to the Caribbean — and now, for the first time, the San Juan Community Theatre. Check out more about Jones at www.lloydjonesmusic.com.

The Lloyd Jones Band is sponsored by San Juan Garage and VanderYacht Propane. Ticket prices are $20 for adults, $10 for student reserved, with $5 student RUSH at the door. A private donor has made provision for free tickets to anyone needing financial assistance to attend a theater event.

The SJCT box office is open Tuesday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Saturday, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.; and one hour before each performance. Call 378-3210 or buy tickets online at www.sjctheatre.org