Whether it's her magnetic personality, her stellar musicianship or simply her colorful braids, Deborah Henson-Conant is a performer who's impossible to forget. Single-handedly turning the sophisticated and pastoral legacy of the harp on its head, the eccentric 54-year-old singer and composer has made a career out of playing her own style of cross-genre music on a custom-made electric harp that she straps to her upper body during concerts.

This may sound strange in theory, especially considering that she uses her portable harp to tackle genres as diverse as Celtic, flamenco, and even jazz and blues, but thanks to Henson-Conant's creativity and talent as a storyteller, it all makes perfect sense.

"Sometimes I think that whatever goes in my ears comes out my fingers," explains Henson-Conant, who brings her unique solo show to Tupelo Music Hall Saturday night. "I haven't studied any specific genres of music, and I don't consciously play within any specific style, but I'm easily influenced by things around me. I think it's always just been me trying to figure out what I could do with this instrument."

Raised in an artistic household where stories were told with music as much as words, Henson-Conant brings this same approach to her performances, which often means adopting a style to fit the narrative. "If I'm telling a story about a Mexican girl, then I'm going to use Mexican music, and I will play the harp in that style. I'm telling a story musically, so I'll do whatever I have to do to tell that story."

Being an entertainer is about more than just writing good songs, and the vibrant performer's self-confidence and comfort with her audience is a rare delight. Eager to share the origins of her music and other anecdotes, Henson-Conant weaves these stories seamlessly into her act, creating a combination of music, humor and storytelling that's both entertaining and unique.

After more than two decades of perfecting this approach, Henson-Conant is finally ready to pass on some of her trailblazing skills to others. "Mostly I get asked to show people how to do what I do," she says. "Since I'm sort of known as the performer of the harp world, I want to help other musicians, whether they're harpists or not, learn how to get on stage and communicate with an audience."

This happens every summer courtesy of a weeklong workshop, performance for musicians she hosts in Maine.

In addition to writing and recording solo songs, the prolific Henson-Conant also composes music for symphony orchestras. Her performance with the 80-piece Grand Rapids Symphony was captured in the CD/DVD Invention and Alchemy, which played on PBS and received a Grammy nomination in 2007.