LEWISTON — Singer Junior Brown, known for his humor, energy and an instrumental creation called the “guit-steel” (combining the standard six-string guitar with the steel guitar) , will perform at Bates College on Saturday, Dec. 11.

Brown has mastered the best of two musical worlds, rock and traditional country. “Just about the time listeners label me as some old-time honky-tonk singer, I throw something new in there that surprises them,” Brown said. “And then they’ll appreciate the traditional styles of country music, too.”

“Do something to wow them without ruining the roots of country and they end up accepting the music that they would have been prejudiced against,” he said.

Brown literally dreamed up the “guit-steel” after finding himself torn between the standard six-string and lap steel guitars during performances. “I was playing both the steel and guitar, switching back and forth a lot while I sang, and it was kind of awkward,” he said.

 “But then I had this dream where they just kind of melted together,” he continued. “When I woke up, I thought ‘You know, that thing would work.’ They made double-neck guitars and double-neck steels, so why not one of each?”

 Guitar maker Michael Stevens fabricated the “guit-steel” for Brown around 1985.

Life magazine honored Brown as the only contemporary musician included in their “All Time Country Band.” Guitar Player magazine’s 1994 “Best of…” listings named him No. 1 as lap steel player, No. 2 as Country Artist and awarded him No. 3 for country album (“Guit With It”).

The first two of his dozen albums, “12 Shades of Brown” and “Guit With It” (both on Curb, 1993) helped establish him from Texas roadhouses to the hippest clubs of New York City and Europe.

 In the mid-1980s, Brown taught guitar under Leon McAulliffe, legendary steel man for Bob Wills’ Texas Playboys, at Oklahoma’s Hank Thompson School of Country Music, part of Rogers State College. It was there that he met “the lovely Miss Tanya Rae,” who would become his rhythm guitarist, backup vocalist and wife.

The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m., at Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, 75 Russell St.  Tickets, $15 and $8, are available at www.batestickets.com. For more information, call 786-6135 or visit [email protected].