What a year it's been for Tulsa's own Piedmont blues master Little Joe McLerran.

The Little Joe McLerran Quartet was selected by the Jazz at Lincoln Center program and the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs to tour internationally in 2010 as part of "The Rhythm Road: American Music Abroad program."

He will take his American roots music around the world to promote cross-cultural understanding with special emphasis on countries not regularly visited by American musicians.

His latest album, "Believe I'll Make a Change," is out now, and was recorded over the busy summer. It joined Jimmy Junior Markham and David Berntson on harmonica, Ron McRorey on drums, Robbie Mack on bass and Jack Wolfe on keys. McLerran's old friend, Dexter Payne, from Boulder, Colo., played sax, clarinet and harp.

Also, he won second place at the Blues Society of Tulsa Blues challenge earlier this year and went on to win the 25th Annual International Blues Challenge in Memphis.

"Winning the IBC opened a lot of doors for me," he said in an e-mail. "I've been to a lot of cool places and met a lot of nice folks."

McLerran just returned from a week at sea, performing aboard the Legendary Rhythm and Blues Cruise. "That was an experience. The ship looks bigger than the BOK Center. It's 14 stories high," he said. "It was rockin' and rollin' out there."

To celebrate his busy year and the new album, the Little Joe Quartet will do several gigs:

Friday: 10 p.m. at The Crow Bar in Tahlequah

Saturday: 8 p.m. at VFW Post 577, 1109 E. Sixth St.

Sunday: 8 p.m. at the Blue Door in Oklahoma City

Check McLerran's website, www.littlejoeblues.com for details.

Flytrap's going to be a-hoppin'