“When I was first getting going, people would make fun of me,” said Junior Brown while on tour in Jacksonville, Fla. “They used to laugh at me because I was singing in the style of an Ernest Tubb song, and it was so out of style. I’d just lean down and turn my amps up all the way and blast them. (laughs) Then they’d think, ‘Wow, this guy’s really good. He just hurt my eardrums.'”

Always impeccably dressed in a dark suit and white cowboy hat with double-neck guitar, the musician has done much since those early years to bridge the gap between homespun country tradition and indie rock credibility. This is why the 49-year-old performer can tally collaborations with rural icons like Ray Price and Asleep at the Wheel, yet spent last summer as the opening act for Dave Matthews Band during a stadium tour.

Junior Brown

“A lot of them had never seen me before,” Brown recalled of the audience reaction to the Matthews pairing. “But by the end of the set I had them going pretty good. By the time I went from ‘My Wife Thinks You’re Dead’ to (Jimi Hendrix’s) ‘Foxy Lady,’ I pretty much had them curious if nothing else.”

Part of Brown’s persona stems from the unique aspect of his signature instrument. In 1985 he helped invent the Guit-Steel, a hybrid of an electric six-string and lap steel. (“I’m the only one who plays one or has one for that matter,” he said.)

His original model, termed Ol’ Yeller because of its color, has since been retired to the Country Music Hall of Fame Museum in Nashville. Currently, his principal Guit-Steel is called Big Red. The design of the device allows Brown to shift midsong between his fleet-fingered picking and fluid Opry-style slide technique. As witnessed on the instrumental closer “The Chase” from his new record “Mixed Bag,” the result is often jaw-dropping a perfect marriage of flash and taste.

Lawrence past

A native of Indiana, Brown spent much of his early career in relative obscurity, touring and performing as a sideman for a variety of acts. It was in the mid- to late ’70s that he hooked up with Kansas musician Billy Spears, becoming a regular member of the fiddle master’s band. It meant that Brown spent a couple of years living in Lawrence sort of.

Mixed

“We were on the road most of the time,” he said of Spears. “But when I was in Lawrence, I slept down in (his) basement.”

By the ’80s, Brown was teaching at the Hank Thompson School of Country Music in Oklahoma when he met a student who would change his life. “The Lovely Miss Tanya Rae” began taking lessons from Brown and ended up marrying him, eventually joining his group as the permanent rhythm guitarist.

It was after relocating to Austin, Tex., that Brown found the perfect environment to hone his skills and image. Consistent popularity as the house band at Austin’s Continental Club led to a record deal and his debut, “12 Shades of Brown,” in 1993.

Now with five LPs to his credit, Brown and Tanya Rae make their home in Tulsa, Okla.

“I’ve pretty much been a coast-to-coast guy for so many years that I think of America as being one giant state now,” he laughed. “There are small regional differences here and there, but I’ve been traveling so long that it’s all just one big state to me. I mean that in a positive way.”

Mass media magnetism

The four-time Grammy nominee’s matchless appeal has led to many opportunities beyond making albums and touring. In addition to his regular appearances on “Saturday Night Live,” “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” and “The Late Show with David Letterman” (where he performed last week), Brown has landed genuine acting roles. He’s been a part of successful commercial campaigns for Gap and Mountain Dew. He’s found television work on “The X-Files” and “The Chris Isaak Show,” and shared a scene with Brendan Fraser in the feature film “Still Breathing” (“which was a pretty good little movie,” he said).

But perhaps his most high-profile exposure came from delivering the opening theme, “Highway Patrol,” for the Jim Carrey comedy “Me, Myself & Irene.” Brown considers the way his songs and image have been employed in other mediums to be its own mixed bag.

“It depends on how it’s been used,” he said. “I was a little ashamed by ‘Me, Myself & Irene’ because it was such a vulgar, trashy movie. I thought Jim Carrey hit below his mark on that one. I was real disappointed. I could never get past the racial stereotypes and the vulgarity. It was just a downright vile movie.”

While Brown’s reaction to the Philistine aspects of Hollywood reveal a somewhat conservative attitude, that doesn’t apply to his own musical approach. Despite being branded a traditionalist, the musician has little interest in bringing a pure country style back to Nashville or for anyone else to attempt it either.

“I don’t think we’ll ever go back to ‘real’ country music, because the age of that is gone. It’s like Dixieland jazz the age of that is gone. What you’ll have are parodies of that: ‘This is real, original country music.’ The more they say that this is real, the less real it is. That’s why I don’t even call myself a country artist. I just play Guit-Steel music. That means I do whatever I want. I’m not trying to be a hillbilly; I’m not a hillbilly, so why should I pretend?”

Last laugh

Along with his emphatic attitude, Brown’s real gift seems to be his versatility. “Mixed Bag” showcases the artist’s booming baritone voice and guitar mastery with original tunes ranging from the “Green Acres”-style charmer “Ain’t Gonna Work Today” to the spy-theme saga of dating a Russian agent, “Cagey Bea.” And in deference to his main influence, he includes a faithfully smooth cover of the Tubb classic “Kansas City Blues.”

Once regarded as a novelty, the talented Brown has managed to establish an enduring career. Few folks are laughing at the man these days.

“My highlight has been the ability to play for audiences every night,” he revealed. “I have fans that drive all over the country to see the shows. That’s the real payoff. That’s what I waited all this time for. Because it’s been a struggle not being accepted all these years. It really means a lot to have people like what you do.”