He shares a name with a famous singing cowboy, and there are days when Roy Rogers thinks he's looking out on a new frontier. Album sales, which used to be the 58-year-old blues performer's bread and butter, have diminished for all artists, replaced by mp3s of selected songs. And blues fans, demographically, are older and tend to download far less than their younger counterparts.

"That revenue stream has fallen dramatically," Rogers said in a telephone interview from his Nevada City, Calif., home. "Now, everyone is driven towards live performance and selling CDs at live shows and counting them. It wasn't that important to do that at live shows before, but now everyone is counting them because that's a major source of your numbers."

Rogers, who last appeared at the IH Mississippi Valley Blues Festival in 1987, returns to the fest tonight as part of a "retro night" lineup featuring artists from the early years in the event's history.

He arrives just as his newest album, "Split Decision," has been released to critical acclaim. He said the CD that came out in April did everything artistically that he wanted from it.

"I'm one of the cats who really likes to stretch the boundaries," he said. "It's all based on the blues ... but I'm always looking to stretch it. I'm not a traditional guy."

Best known for his years performing with John Lee Hooker, Rogers said about half of his performances are at blues festivals.

"It's a larger venue and your presentation is different in playing to a larger crowd like that," Rogers said. "You're reaching a larger population of folks, and that's a good thing. We all like to reach as many people as possible."

He shares the stage with the Delta Rhythm Kings - bass player Steve Ehrmann and drummer Billy Lee Lewis.

"I just love performing. Whether it's a small crowd or a large crowd, it doesn't make any difference to me," Rogers added.