HUNTINGTON -- Travis Stephens can drop names like Lil Wayne drops mixtapes.

Well, did drop mixtapes.

That incidental name dropping will happen in Nashville, where the Belle, W.Va.-raised guitarist and vocalist has hooked up with the smoking, north-Alabama-raised indie-guitarist and songwriter Kenneth Brian, who's got a pile of indie records under his belt, and, according to Stephens, the best one yet still to come.

Fresh off of cutting a new CD over near Muscle Shoals with everyone from Chuck Leavell, keyboardist for the Rolling Stones to Jason Isbell (formerly of Drive-By Truckers), The Kenneth Brian Band is rolling home through the Mountain State (Brian's grandparents are from the northern Panhandle) for a couple club dates.

They play Charleston's Empty Glass on Saturday night and on Sunday night, they team up with top-shelf Mountain State indie rocker Bud Carroll and The Southern Souls, for a double shot of rock on Sunday at Shamrock's Pub, 2050 3rd Ave.

Stephens, who has been living in Nashville for eight years, said folks may look at him weird for leaving the studio-drenched Music City to record, but recording in Alabama felt oh so right.

Who can blame that kind of feeling when you hear who laid hands on this new record?

The new Kenneth Brian CD was produced by Johnny Sandlin, who played in bands with the Allman Brothers, then went on to produce some of their seminal work and worked with Marshall Tucker and Widespread Panic.

The record also features guest appearances from David Hood (Aretha Franklin, Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section) on bass, Bonnie Bramlett, and members of The Charlie Daniels Band, Drive-By Truckers, and Leavell (keyboardist for the Rolling Stones, Clapton, and The Allman Bros.).

"It just turned out to be a monster," Stephens said. "You know, you think you know something about music and then these guys come in, look at it, feel and just do it. You learn so much by watching guys like that play."

Stephens, who has had his own group, the Invisible Kids, said he joined up as a rhythm guitarist and harmony vocalist with Brian, who has been playing since he was about 12 growing up on the gulf shores of Florida.

Good friends for as long as Stephens has been in Nashville, Stephens joined the band last year and is stoked to bring the band up to the home state and throw down with Brian, who writes for Sony/ATV publishing, and who starred as Hank Williams Sr. in the musical, "Hank Williams: Lost Highway" at the Zachary Scott Theatre in Austin, Texas.

The band, which just sold out a club in Winston-Salem, is also stoked about teaming up with Carroll, with whom they're talking about tag-teaming some tour dates.

"Kenneth is really unbelievable as a guitar player," Stephens said. "He's a real &^%$-kicking gunslinger with great chops and then he writes songs like that Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt kind of songwriting. It's not only a hell of a rock 'n' roll sound, but the songs are there if you are listening."

Listen to the band online at www.myspace.com/kennethbrian.

The Herald-Dispatch

Kenneth Brian Band