I'm not going to lie. During a break in songs, I asked Paul Pfau if he was old enough to be in a bar.

The singer and guitarist, who has both a blues trio and a funk quintet, looks like a recent high school graduate but is, in fact, over the legal drinking age.

He brought his trio, featuring Dominic Valentine on bass and Jamie Leonard on drums, to Cowboy Cafe as part of a swing through the area from his base in West Virginia.

With a list of influences that include all the great blues guitarists-- Stevie Ray Vaughn, Eric Clapton, B.B. King, Albert Collins, and some newer ones, like Brit Matt Schofield, Pfau brings and impressive stage presence and skill set that it's easy to overlook his youthful appearance.

His setlist featured songs like Delbert McClinton's "Lose Your Money (But Don't Lose Your Mind)," a slow, almost sexy version of The Box Tops' classic "The Letter," and Robert Cray's "Black Cat Bone," all played in a stylized manner that made the audience pay attention to figure out which song was being performed. This is by no means a knock to Pfau's style, but in fact a compliment-- "The Letter," for instance, is a oldies rock radio staple, and for someone to make it worth paying attention to again is a joy.

Other influences seeped into some lesser known songs, ranging from a Marley-esque rhythm to a little Sublime beach rock and some Santana-like '70s pedal action.

But there was one selection that made no sense, despite being well played: A cover of Tracy Chapman's "Give Me One Reason."

Followed by Clapton's "Driftin' Blues" that sounded like SRV's "The Sky is Crying," nicely accented with an effect that sounded like a guitar slide, and Collin's "If You Love Me Like You Say," Pfau demonstrated that he's got a musician's soul and a fan's ear for the lesser known gems.

While heading north to the Utica Music and Arts Festival this past weekend, Pfau said he's eagerly working with both his blues trio and his funk outfit, The Dimestore Band, playing a number of gigs in the greater D.C. area over the next few months.

Only playing live for the past two and a half years, Pfau started out playing four or five nights per week. His first gig with the Dimestore Band was on New Year's Eve last year, and they haven't stopped yet-- they've played festivals in Ohio, clubs in New York City , Iota and Clarendon Grill a little closer to home, and have another show lined up a JV's in Falls Church on October 3. They've also just released their first album, self-titled, which is available at CDBaby.com

"The great thing about Dimestore is that we all co-write," Pfau said. "That way, it makes it a little bit of everyone's."

While the performing area at Cowboy is small, Pfau said the size of the room doesn't matter, it's the attitude of the people filling it.

"You can play a big club or a small venue and it makes no difference," he said. "What matters is whether people pay attention."

What makes Dimestore different, he said, is some of the components of the band, like an electric cello.

There's also a bit of sunshine in the Dimestore tracklist, a melding of 70s rhythms with poppy lyrics reminiscent of bands like War. Pfau's voice is slightly different here too, more Adam Levine than John Mayer, in the best way possible.

"It's a funky, Motown blues jazzy funk mashup," he said. "I think we're definitely original. The blues thing, that's where my passion is, where I'm the most free."

Dimestore, on the other hand, is where he brings the funk.

More information on all of Pfau's musical stylings can be found at www.paulpfaumusic.com.