Son Seals speaks with all the affinity of a baritone sax — mellow and full of the kind of rich bass that could lull someone to sleep — but plays his guitar with enough energy to make his sound reach the heavens.

His sophisticated solo techniques and gravelly, passion-invoked singing voice makes his blues music something to really listen to.

“I give it my all,” Seals said over the phone from his Chicago home. “I try to be creative and express myself. That’s all you can do is be yourself.”

Seals went on to talk about the blues artists of today, making the point that you have to be creative in order to be a truly good blues musician. He doesn’t think many of the players whom he calls “copycats” are, in essence, truly talented blues players.

“Don’t get me wrong, ’cause a lot of guys can play their butt off, but they ain’t being creative,” Seals pointed out.

Seals definitely worked his proverbial “butt” off to get to the status of the blues legend that he is today. In early 1998, he was named the Chicago Blues Entertainer of 1997 at the 17th annual Chicago Music Awards.

The legend began in the South — Osceola, Ark. to be exact — where Seals was born in 1942. His home was the back of his father’s club, the Dipsy Doodle, where legendary blues artists like Sonny Boy Williamson and Albert King would literally play Seals to sleep from the stage.

With all of the musical influences around Seals as a boy, it was only a matter of time before he picked up, not only the guitar, but the harmonica and drums as well.

After moving to Chicago in the early ’70s, the Son Seals Band was formed, and another page in musical history was written to the tune of some of the best blues music to come out of the Chicago area.

The band has produced a multitude of highly regarded albums, including the latest, “Live Spontaneous Combustion,” the second live album in the band’s catalog.

Seals wanted to give people a taste of what the band’s live show is like. The album picks up on all the energy that a Son Seals show carries and more.

“Live Spontaneous Combustion” was recorded at Buddy Guy’s Legends in Chicago, capturing the wildfire enthusiasm of Seals’ legions of diehard fans.

It’s Seals’ playing that really captivates the listener. He plays his Gibson 335 with an attitude as if every show were his last.

Whether he’s travelling up and down the neck of his guitar reeling out intense solos or bellowing out the blues with the primal drive of a banshee, he’s always giving it his all.

Seals described his live show with a little less enthusiasm than what he presents on stage, though.

“We kind of ride on what the audience is doing. If they want to dance, we play dance music. If they want to sit there and listen, we play that kind of music. We call it ‘belly-rubbin’ music,” Seals said.

Seals taps the inspiration for his music from the same well that many other artists drink from.

“Life in general, things that happen around you,” Seals said. “Hell, I could take Bill Clinton and write a song about him.”

Seals said if he ever did choose to write a song about the president, he’d call it, “Dog Dead in the White House,” an ironically fitting title for a man who has more popularity now than he did when he first took office.

Seals has over 25 years experience with the blues. Over the years, his style has changed, sometimes staying true to the basic elements of Chicago Blues and other times stretching out into other genres, including jazz.

“It’s kind of like buying an automobile.” Seals said. “If you don’t keep it up with the times, it’s not the same automobile. That applies to music as well.”

He believes artists have to change their styles and usually do as they age, both physically and musically. He doesn’t like the idea of putting out a lot of records that sound the same.

Seals said the ladder of success is a tall one, and that you have to always keep climbing.

“My biggest accomplishment is that I keep doing what I’m doing. If you slide down that ladder, you gotta keep trying to move up.”

The Son Seals Band will play two shows at the M-Shop on Saturday at 8 and 10:30 pm. Tickets are $9 for the public and $7 for students.