Blues pianist and singer Marcia Ball and her band perform Saturday night at the Knickerbocker Café in Westerly.

AP / Jed Carlson

Marcia Ball has been keeping the mix of Texas and Louisiana blues traditions alive from behind her piano for more than 30 years now. Her concerts are always a joyous foot-stomping time that see Ball combining the rolling, tumbling Professor Longhair style of piano with the dance beats of zydeco and swamp pop, as well as throwing in Ball’s insightful songwriting, which updates the blues verities while still keeping the spirit of direct communication.

Last year’s Peace, Love & BBQ record was another winner from Ball that also included guest appearances by luminaries such as Dr. John, Terrance Simien, Wayne Toups and more. And Ball won the Blues Music Award for best pianist again — her fourth victory in the past six years.

Ball says she’s been writing new songs, but there are no plans for a new disc yet. In the meantime, her band continues to play about 125 shows a year, including a trip to Europe in November. She has, however, worked in some older songs for a gig with a symphony in Lake Charles, La., and they’ve stayed in the set, along with “some other songs that we didn’t play regularly. We really have kind of re-entered some favorite songs that we have let go by the wayside.”

She’s also working in new guitar player Andrew Nafzigel, and says, “we didn’t want to shock him too badly. We’ll do that for a while and then start bringing in new stuff.”

Ball’s band keeps a pretty stable lineup, and she says that there are a few simple principles that make that possible.

“I hope that I pick the kind of stable person and musician who wants to stay in one situation and not move around. And then I hope we have enough work to keep everybody going, and that they like the job.”

It seems like a fun job.

“Seems to me, too!”

Ever since Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana in August 2005, the condition of the area and the lives of the people in it have become one of Ball’s priorities. Her 60th birthday party last spring turned into a giant fundraiser, featuring old friends Angela Strehli, Lou Ann Barton, Tracy Nelson, Lavelle White and more for the groups Health Alliance for Austin Musicians and Sweet Home New Orleans. Ball says the Crescent City is “definitely a smaller town than it was.” She adds that musicians have reportedly come back to the city in a greater percentage than other residents, and that segments of the tourism and hospitality industries are back on their feet: “You can spend a lot of time in a large part of New Orleans and not feel any problem.

“But a large part of the city is still wrecked, and a lot of those people are living in some other town. … It never really came back the way it should have. There was a lot of un-repatriated people and uncompensated loss.”

The ongoing situation has receded from a lot of people’s minds over the years. “It wasn’t in people’s minds eight months after the hurricane,” she says. “Literally, people said ‘Oh, I thought that was over in six months.’ And the bottom line is, there are overlapping disasters,” she says, referring to killer tornadoes in Kansas the next year.

She’s not hopeful for a total recovery.

“It would take a large movement from above. It’s larger than the city, the leadership that New Orleans consistently elects. And New Orleans has a dickering personality. They’re a microcosm of the country right now: They can’t agree on anything, even if it’s for their own good. It can be done, but it would take money and leadership and a good bill and, well, apparently more than we can muster at the moment.”

So she mentions the area, its troubles and its promise at her shows, and keeps it in mind through Peace, Love & BBQ songs such as the plaintive ballad “Where Do You Go?” and the defiantly danceable “Party Town.”

“It’s in a sense my home. My mailing address has been Austin, Texas, all these years, but my heart and my stomach reside in New Orleans, and Louisiana. I can’t fix everything, so I do the best I can with what I know.”

Marcia Ball plays at the Knickerbocker Café, 35 Railroad St., Westerly, Saturday night at 9 p.m. Tickets are $30; call (401) 315-5070 or go to www.theknickerbocker cafe.com.

Scotsman Dougie MacLean combines the instrumental virtuosity of traditional music with the earnestness of the singer-songwriter genre, and infuses it with that no-nonsense British Isles attitude. He’s best known for the anthem “Caledonia” and the instrumental “The Gael,” but you can find out more by seeing him at the Blackstone River Theatre, 549 Broad St., Cumberland, Saturday night at 8. Tickets are $32 in advance, $35 at the door. Call (401) 725-9272. Chances are it’ll sell out, so get on the stick.

Billy Ray Cyrus has a new disc coming out next month, he signed on to host the TV show Nashville Star, and he’s you-know-who’s dad. Good enough reason to get to Showcase Live!, on the grounds of Gillette Stadium, in Foxboro, to see what he’s up to next. The show is Saturday at 8 p.m. and tickets are $55 and $35. Go to www.showcase live.com to get ’em.

rmassimo@projo.com