Blues Man Group

As troubled and shell-shocked as Detroit is today, the city has long been a centrifuge for America’s grandest dreams. It was on these streets, and in legendary music halls and coffeehouses like the Chessmate on Livernois Avenue, that a young James Montgomery first listened to, and learned to emulate, masterful blues musicians like James Cotton, John Lee Hooker, and Junior Wells. In Boston in the late ’60s, Montgomery founded his James Montgomery Band, building a strong following through high-energy shows — Aerosmith opened for the band twice — and a talent that tapped American music “from Detroit to the Delta.” Forty years on, Montgomery brings his older, wiser voice, and his harmonica, back around to the Iron Horse. In a venue this small, audiences can watch the decades fold in on themselves, leaving the soulful frontman where he belongs: up close and personal.

James Montgomery Band: Saturday at 7 p.m. $15-$18. Iron Horse Music Hall, 20 Center St., Northampton. (413) 586-8686, iheg.com

— Hunter Styles