The guitar intro for The Animals' seminal hit "The House of the Rising Sun" is simply a classic. You can thank Hilton Valentine for that. Valentine was, of course, the guitarist for The Animals, all the way up to 1966, when the group disbanded.

He's jumped in for some Animals reunions and toured with Eric Burdon. He was there, too, when The Animals were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.

Valentine has also kept some solo work percolating, too, and calling upon his long-running love for skiffle, a style where performers play jazz, folk, or country on improvised or unconventinal instruments.

Valentine's latest CD, 2011's "Skiffledog on Coburg St.," includes original tunes but also some of the skiffle and rock tunes that made him want to learn the guitar back when he was a kid. You might hear some of those songs at the Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center.

- KRISTINA DORSEY

Hilton Valentine and Skiffledog, 8 p.m. Saturday, Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center, 300 Main St., Old Saybrook; $22; 1-877-503-1286.