ST. LOUIS—The musician saunters across the stage at a local bar here, plucking out the famous song “Johnny B. Goode” alongside his son on back-up guitar and his daughter on harmonica. Like every gig he plays here, he got paid cash up front. Afterward, he drove himself home.

The talent is Chuck Berry, and at 87, the man widely credited as the father of rock n’ roll still plays a monthly concert at Blueberry Hill—a bar in his hometown of St. Louis. It’s a gig he has been performing since 1996, making his September 17 performance his 208th.

“Excuse the language,” Mr. Berry says slowly to a crowd of 340 after the first song here at his July 23 show. “But we can still kick a little booty.”

Mr. Berry has long outlived and outplayed the artists he influenced, from Elvis Presley to John Lennon. He became an overnight sensation in 1955 with “Maybellene,” followed by hits like “Rock and Roll Music” and “Nadine.”

He hasn’t released a major studio album since 1979, but fans from around the world still come to see Mr. Berry play, some purely for the music and some because, well, how much longer can he possibly do this?