There are acknowledged hot beds of the blues. Memphis. Mississippi. Chicago. Kansas City. Austin.

Belgrade, Serbia? Not so much. But it's true the superior blues guitarist Ana Popovic hails from Belgrade. In her childhood, she fell in love with American blues and began learning the craft. Eventually, she was good enough — really, excellent enough — to give up a career in her hometown as a fashion designer and move to the States.

After 20 years, she's acknowledged within the notoriously critical and purist-centric blues community as a genuinely authentic and gifted practitioner. Popovic has released several discs of original material, is a seven-time Blues Music Award nominee and did five "Experience Hendrix" tours with Buddy Guy, Zakk Wylde, Jonny Lang, Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Eric Johnson.

As documented by her latest album, the in-concert document "Live for Live," Popovic and her band are superb unit — which is why you should be in Old Saybrook Wednesday when she headlines the Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center.

Ana Popovic, 7:30 p.m. Wed., the Kate, 300 Main St., Old Saybrook; $37; thekate.org, (860) 510-0453 tickets.