The Katharine Hepburn Center hosts Howie Day

There are not too many Major Rock People from Brewer, Maine, and not a lot named "Howard," either - although, in the context of the latter, you can't discount Howard "Things Can Only Get Better" Jones and Mayberry's Howard Sprague. (Sprague wasn't a rock musician, per se, but the episode in which he transforms himself into a hipster hugely influenced Andy Warhol and, by extension, the Velvet Underground.)

Anyhoo: pop songwriter Howard "Howie" Day, who was born in Brewer, sings Saturday in Old Saybrook's Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center. Day released a new EP, "Cease Fire," last year, and it builds on his reputation as a solid craftsman of melodic pop. He's best known for the "Stop All the World Now" album, which came out in 2003 and was produced by the distinctive and oft-brilliant Youth.

Day frequently performs solo, presenting captivating tunes in their original form, so it might be interesting to hear the lushly arranged "So Much Love," "Come Lay Down" and "Be There" in the sparse setting.

- RICK KOSTER

Howie Day, 8 p.m. Saturday, Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center, 300 Main St., Old Saybrook; $28-$32; 1-877-503-1286, thekate.org.