DeKALB | Every rockabilly (music with features of rock and country genres) fan within 100 miles of DeKalb will want to be at The House Cafe on Thursday night.

The local venue will host Lee Rocker, the bassist from the legendary rockabilly-revival group The Stray Cats.

Fresh off a U.S. reunion tour with the Cats, Rocker is back on the road and solo while promoting his new disc, “Black Cat Bone.” Striking out on his own is nothing new for the bassist, who has been operating under his own name since 1994, logging countless hours on stage and releasing 10 albums.

In fact, Rocker’s love for rockabilly came against all odds. Growing up as the son of world-famous classical musicians in New York City during the late ’70s, Rocker should have either been a punk or a classical musician. Back then, he and his pals Brian Setzer and Slim Jim Phantom were more interested in Elvis Presley and Carl Perkins than the Sex Pistols or the Ramones.

“We played ‘Blue Suede Shoes’ and most of the people in the audience probably thought we wrote it,” Rocker said in a recent interview on National Public Radio.

He’s held the torch for rockabilly through a lot since the Stray Cats started confounding punk-rockers in the late ‘70s. After the band’s second breakup, Rocker started his solo career in 1994 with “Big Blue,” an album of blues, swing and hard-driving rockabilly. He resisted the temptation to ride the success of the late ’90s swing craze as his old pal Brian Setzer experienced astronomical success with that ubiquitous single, “Jump, Jive an’ Wail.”

On “The Highway Is My Home,” a track from Rocker’s newest record, he sings: “Folks had come from miles and miles/They lined up down the block/But just about midnight we were shut down by the cops.”

Hopefully, the DeKalb police will be more sympathetic to Rocker’s music tomorrow night.