If the Vinyl Café really existed, Matt Andersen would fit right in. He’d be the big guy hunched over the blues section, every once in a while exclaiming over a rare Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee disc. If things were slow, he might unpack his guitar and play a tune or two for Dave, the fictional record store’s neurotic owner, or share a few of his latest misadventures from the road. Dave, of course, hails from the Cape Breton community of Big Narrows, while Andersen grew up in Bairdsville, New Brunswick, so they’d have stories of Maritime life to share, as well as a fondness for classic recordings of all kinds.

Alas, however, the Vinyl Café exists only in the imagination of CBC host and raconteur Stuart McLean. But that doesn’t mean Andersen won’t be belting a few tunes within its hallowed walls, for McLean’s taking his show on the road this month, with the Halifax-based singer-guitarist onboard as featured musician.

“The connection is that I had a lot of friends who had played on the show before, so I guess a lot of them put a good word in for me,” Andersen explains, reached in Toronto during pretour rehearsals. “So they came and checked me out at one of my shows, and that’s when they informed me that they wanted me on. So, yeah, it’s a great opportunity—and, really, it’s a pretty easy show, compared to what I usually do. I just have to do a couple of songs on-stage, because the main focus is Stuart and his stories.”

McLean and his production team are undoubtedly happy to have Andersen along, given that he’s certainly going to perk up what can be an amiable but low-key undertaking. As those who saw Andersen’s Vancouver Folk Music Festival appearances this summer will testify, the man is a dynamic live performer, with a voice to match his plus-size frame and an extroverted guitar style that bears comparison to that of the late Stevie Ray Vaughan.

His style encompasses more than just the blues, though. His recent Something in Between CD builds on that base with elements of folk, country music, and classic rock, all shot through with the joie de vivre Andersen appears to have inherited from his grandfather, an old-time fiddler in the mould of that other New Brunswick powerhouse, Don Messer.

“A lot of my energy kind of comes from playing with my grandfather,” he explains. “He was always the guy who, when everyone else would take a break, he’d just play right through the night. He’d pick up the fiddle at 6 o’clock and not put it down until midnight. His philosophy was always ”˜If there’s somebody who wants to listen, there should be somebody playing,’ so I try to bring that pure love of music to the stage, I guess.”

Does Andersen think that he might ever take up the most iconic of Down East instruments?

“Well, I’ve got my grandfather’s fiddle at home,” he allows. “But it’s brutal. It’s just one of those instruments that’s rough, you know. You can pick up a guitar and play three chords right off the bat, but fiddle sounds pretty horrible for the first few years—so you won’t be seeing that on-stage, that’s for sure.”

Matt Andersen joins Stuart McLean and the Vinyl Café at the Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts on Saturday and Sunday (November 28 and 29).