Lawrence Lipbone Redding

When Lawrence Redding was playing the subways in New York City, he needed some instrumental accompaniment.

Instead of finding a friend who played a horn, he decided to make up the sounds himself – with his mouth. Now, he’s known as “Lipbone Redding” for the trombone/ flugelhorn noises he conjures without an instrument.

Redding brings his unique style of music – which mixes his “lipbone” and beatboxing with influences of Americana, funk, jam soul and R&B – to the Lawrence Public Library, 707 Vt., for a free concert at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

“At this point, what I play is American music,” Redding says.

His background is part of the reason for his varied influences – he lives in New York now, but he grew up in North Carolina and has lived in San Francisco, India and South America.

He spends most of his time playing New York clubs but makes an occasional tour with the Lipbone Orchestra, which consists of a drummer and a bassist.

Still, he considers the roots of his music career to be in those New York train stations – where he jumped into music with both feet.

“I started playing in the subways here in New York because I figured, ‘If I’m going to be a full-time musician, let’s get started with it. Let’s get paid for it,'” he says. “And my mom and dad have always been supportive of me, and they said things like, ‘If you give yourself anything to fall back on, at least let it be your butt.'”