Maurice John Vaughn has been traveling down a long road. A road of touring — a road of life.

Since grade school, this 47-year-old blues man has vied to get the recognition he deserves. You might think that is what his blues are all about, but he’d tell you otherwise.

Most of his songs come from the happenings around him, his family and his friends.

“I get ideas from everyday life,” Vaughn said in a deep, soulful, Barry White-like voice. “A lot of my songs are influenced by my life and my friends. My song, ‘Watching Your Watch,’ is about two of my friends who underneath everything, didn’t really want to be together. It’s kind of a song about impatience, I guess you could say.”

Vaughn usually sings with a rich, smooth voice over some noteworthy blues chords on his guitar and plays sax on several of his songs. However, his passion for playing didn’t begin on these instruments.

He began as a percussionist in grade school, on Chicago’s south side, and also played the clarinet. He made the switch to sax when he wanted to join a local jazz trio, and they forced him to play sax or he could not be in the band.

Vaughn went on to play in many soul and Top 40 cover bands between 1968 and 1979 and made his first R & B recording in 1976 with the Chosen Few. During this time, he also played with top Chicago blues artists Son Seals and A.C. Reed.

Growing up and learning how to play in Chicago, one of the blues capitals, Vaughn was influenced mainly by Howlin’ Wolf, Elmore James and Albert King and his peers.

“I was able to see a lot of my friends play, and I got to play with a lot of different people,” Vaughn said. “But it was kind of like being a chameleon — they made you conform to them.”

Perhaps what makes his latest album, “In The Shadow Of The City,” truly great is that it is totally original. Vaughn likes to describe it as reflecting what’s inside of him — each has a raw power similar to his unheeding guitar, simmering sax and melting voice.

From songs like “Can’t Nobody” to “Small Town Baby,” Vaughn covers an array of emotions. He does some soul-searching on the song “Suicide Is Not The Way,” gets metaphorical on the song “Love Bone,” and gets downright funky on “(Everything I Do) Got To Be Funky,” a song played in the movie “Major League II.”

Vaughn loves to travel, but he also loves to stay at home and entertain the locals. Perhaps his favorite gig is playing at the local schools. He teaches the children about blues music using fun lyrics that relate to them.

He relates well to younger generations and has plenty of experience teaching music to those who want to learn. With two sons interested in the music industry, he is willing to educate and help them. Vaughn feels that young black artists are not getting the help they need.

“It seems like people in the business, mainly whites with money, are finding the young white artists like Johnny Lang, but not helping anyone else along the way,” Vaughn said. “My sons and kids like them don’t have a chance.”

With this, his advice for young people just getting started is simple: “Play what’s inside you with the ability you have on the instrument you play, rather than copying things that have no relationship to you.”

Vaughn’s encouragement and musical talent goes far beyond helping the youth. He also spends much of his career in trying to help his peers.

“I like to keep as many projects going as I can, such as getting my friends recorded,” Vaughn said. “Of course, you’re goin’ to see a lot of Johnny Langs pop up, but my friends, just like me, have been playing for over 30 years, and I’d like to help them get recordings made.”

Vaughn is traveling with a small band including trombonist B.J. Emery, bassist Kenneth Pickens and drummer Vernon Rodgers. The band normally focuses on playing an energetic dance show but are going to try something different for tonight’s M-Shop crowd.

“We’re going to use more in-depth stuff with this crowd because the M-Shop has more of an intimate setting,” Vaughn said. “We’ll have music more for people who want to sit and listen rather than dance around.”

Maurice John Vaughn will play at the M-Shop tonight at 8 and 10:30. Tickets are $7 and are available at TicketMaster.