With a smoke in his lips and a vintage guitjo banjo in his hands, Pokey LaFarge rips into a Jimmie Rodgers classic with the sound and feel of someone much older than his 26 years.

"I'm trying to carry the old-time music into the future," says LaFarge, who has made it his mission to bring his brand of bar-slapping, foot-tapping, ragtime acoustic music to the masses.

With his band the South City Three — Adam Hoskins on guitar, Joey Glynn on upright bass and Ryan Koenig on washboard and harmonica — LaFarge will celebrate his new CD, "Riverboat Soul," at a Benton Park street fair Saturday and a release party Sunday at Off Broadway.

Old-time acoustic music is part of what defines this country, LaFarge says.

"You can feel the people of America in it, there's an identity to the music," he says. "It's connected to something real."

A musician who has traveled far from his Southern Illinois upbringing to explore his craft, LaFarge learned to play while on the road after leaving Benton, Ill., at 17. He favors old instruments, playing a small parlor guitar, his guitjo (a banjo with six strings tuned as a guitar) and a kazoo that he has retrofitted for a warmer sound.

He carries his old-time aesthetic from head to toe. He wears vintage slacks and a slouchy newsboy cap. On his feet, he wears only dress shoes.

He made his St. Louis connection while busking on the street in Asheville, N.C., a few years ago. Chris Baricevic, who had recently founded St. Louis-based Big Muddy Records, heard LaFarge play and was eager to hear more.

"He sounded just like Robert Johnson," Baricevic says. "I was like, 'People still play this music?'"

They became fast friends, and LaFarge started playing regularly in St. Louis. Last year, he moved to St. Louis and put out "Beat Move and Shake" on Baricevic's label.

For the past year, LaFarge and the South City Three have played all over the United States and even toured Scotland, playing Edinburgh's Fringe Festival. The band will return to the United Kingdom in January to hit England, Scotland and Wales.

"When was the last time someone came to St. Louis to put out a record? The city does have magic," Baricevic says. "There's always been a tradition of American music in this town."