Vidalia — In his time off, Scott Craig likes to create — and share — his life’s work.

Craig was taking advantage of a cool March day when The Dart landed Saturday on the Vidalia riverfront.

His plans, he said, were simple: wash the truck, take a long run on the bluff and play his harmonica.

Craig, polishing his bright blue pickup truck near the water, said he had gotten off work early after rain halted progress on the Mississippi River Bridge, where he is a sandblaster.

The New Orleans native said he has been using a sandblaster for almost 40 years, and though he enjoys his work, his passion is music.

Craig said he began playing the harmonica when he was just 5 years old.

He remembers, he said, looking on his grandfather’s mantle at a bright, glinting object. He pulled a chair up to reach the light and almost had the harmonica in his grasp when his grandfather noticed what he was doing.

“He pulled it down and showed me how it worked,” Craig said. “He taught me how to play, and I’ve been playing ever since.”

Now, 50 years and some change later, Craig has become a master of the little instrument.

He composes songs on the spot, dabbles in several bands and music gigs, and his music has taken him to New York scenes and New Orleans’ blues hot spots.

In the ’90s, when Craig was playing regularly in New Orleans, he said many people knew him as “Mr. Harmonica.”

“One night we were playing and I blew out four harmonicas,” he said. “The show was supposed to end at midnight, but we closed out at 4 a.m. When you’re feeling it and the band is feeling it, you can just go on for hours.”

Often these days, Craig said he just likes to take his music to a public place where he can invent and share his music simultaneously.

“I like to compose,” he said. “This is my routine. Whenever I get the chance, this is what I do.”

Ever the perfectionist, the New Orleans native buffed and polished every inch of the Chevrolet, stopping periodically to scrub a particularly stubborn spot.

Craig said he is just as fastidious in every aspect of his life — from honing his skill on the harmonica to keeping life simple.

“Some people like to jump off cliffs and take risks,” he said. “Not me. I like keeping it simple.”

On the bluff, he pulls out the harmonica and plays a complex and rhythmic tune. From time to time, he pulls away from the instrument to sing a few lines.

When he is finished, he smiles, laugh lines crinkling at the corners of his eyes.

“That was new,” he said. “Music has to have a poetic-ness to it. Music has got to have a story. There is a lesson in every song.”