WHO: The Robert Ross Band.

WHAT: Blues.

WHEN: 9 p.m. Wednesday.

WHERE: The Great Notch Inn, Route 46, Little Falls. 973 256-7742 or greatnotchinn.com.

HOW MUCH: Free.

It's not easy being a road warrior when they start to roll up the road.

Forty-four years ago, when bluesman Robert Ross began his career, the area was rife with music clubs. Even a decade ago, there were plenty: Tramps, the Lone Star, the Bottom Line and a dozen others in New York; many more in the suburbs.

Today, they're mostly gone. And Ross, in order to keep up his chops and his income, has to be creative.

"I'm finding other places to play in the area, other kinds of places," says Ross, a Queens resident. "I've been playing libraries, mental institutions, nursing homes, senior centers, jails, schools, homeless shelters, women's shelters."

All of which might sound like slim pickings for a singer-songwriter-guitarist who has released seven CDs, recorded with Big Joe Turner, written for Johnny Winter, opened for John Lennon and Jerry Lee Lewis, shared the stage with stars like John Lee Hooker, Lightnin' Hopkins, Otis Rush, Memphis Slim and "Big Mama" Thornton, and inspired such take-it-to-the-bank quotes as "so fast, lightning would have to get on roller skates to catch him" (Albert Collins) and "If you closed your eyes you'd swear Ray Charles was playing Buddy Guy's guitar" (Robert Makin, Aquarian).

Luckily, there are still a few bona-fide rock and blues clubs left. For instance, the Great Notch Inn, the Little Falls roadhouse where Ross will play with his trio (Thierry Arpino on drums, Mark Dann on bass) on Wednesday, , June 30 and July 22.

"It's a cool [club]," Ross says. "The crowd is great, and they're fantastic fans of the music."

Some of the quirkier venues he's played in recent years have been rewarding — in their way.

Take the women's detention center in East New York where he decided to debut a new tune. It was so new, in fact, that he'd been up all the previous night writing the gut-bucket, risqué lyrics.

"I start singing a few songs, I look out and there are only women there, and I was getting a moderate reaction," he says. "Then I figure, my voice is warmed up, I'm gonna do 'Mr. Jelly Roll' ":

"Mr. Jelly Roll, that's my name

Jelly roll rolling, that's my game

I'll show you tricks, just promise not to tell

I'll give you a demonstration why my jelly sells so well. . ."

"The reaction was unbelievable," he says. "I've hardly ever had a reaction like that. The girls were whooping and hollering and jumping up and down. … I'm thinking, OK, this is a hit.' "

Getting a reaction like that from women – anyone, really, but especially women – was one of the main reasons Ross first took up the guitar at age 16. He blames a Paul Butterfield Blues Band record for getting him hooked. That and his friend Howie Sklar, who lived around the corner.

"He said, 'You know, Robert, I got a guitar, I'll show you a couple of chords. We could start a band, meet girls, make money, you never know.' And I'm thinking, you had me at girls. …"