Singer/Guitarist Keller Williams returns to Crowbar, 420 E. College Ave., Tuesday night. As always, he will be accompanied by Keller Williams, Keller Williams, and, of course, Keller Williams.

The one-man jam band, famous for his quick picking and looped beatboxing, will be bringing his organic solo sound back to Stage College before heading off to play some of this summer's biggest musical festivals.

But Williams is more than just a guy with a guitar; he's a guy with many guitars, as well as an expressive voice and a lot of technology. By pulling these resources together, he creates full-blown, multi-textured songs and the illusion of a full band.

Williams is becoming notorious within the jam band scene for his ability to turn a one-man show into an intricate jam session. A typical set finds him switching between a multitude of instruments, which somehow continue to loop after he has gone off to another instrument somewhere else.

"We should consider ourselves lucky that an artist with such mind-blowing talent and such an original performance style is gracing Penn State with his presence," said Ryan Roseborough (freshman-film), a jam band fan who has seen Keller three times already.

Keller is also known for his genre mixing, not just from styles such as funk to country but also from off the wall original compositions to classic rock covers. This wide-ranging sound and his jack-of-all-instruments live show can be explained by his exposure to a variety of influences. Williams said his first instrument was not guitar but rather the piano, and some of his other unexpected inspirations help explain his ability to cover all musical bases.

"I watched 'Hee Haw' as a kid, and that got me into music," said Williams. "And you know, I also wanted to be (drummer) Peter Criss from KISS."

Like "any normal teenager," Keller was involved with several bands throughout high school, although none of these groups ever seemed to take off. It wasn't until he had his first paying gig at the age of 16 that he realized he could make a career out of going solo.

Many of these early shows featured classic rock covers that fans could sing along with easily.

But although this was long before the looping technology came into play, the gigs did feature some guitar and vocal experimentation. Even at his first performances, Keller began creating sounds that pleased both the crowd and himself at the same time, an important factor of his live show.

"There's always been a huge room for error -- kind of like the guy on a tight rope without a net. I never was too concerned with what people think. Above all, I have to keep myself entertained for three hours when I'm onstage," said Williams.

In spite of his interest in only entertaining himself, audiences began to recognize Williams' talent.

As shows became more frequent, Williams expanded his guitar and effects rig. The looping idea came most notably through the work of bassist Victor Wooten, who often used similar equipment to create multiple layers of bass lines that he could jam out over. For Keller, the ultimate result was a looping station built by sound technician Louis Gosain.

With the help of this specially designed system, Keller can set up a groove on his guitar that continues to play even after he stops strumming. He can then build upon this loop with another guitar riff, lyrics, a human-produced beatbox drumbeat, a bass line, or virtually any other sound that his setup allows him to generate.

"It's pretty easy if you have a good sense of timing," said Williams about his loop station. "Unfortunately, almost all of my early practice time was onstage, and a lot of people saw a lot of mistakes, but I like to think they grew along with me."

By the late 1990s, Williams had worked with jam band superstars The String Cheese Incident, and recorded an entire album backed by the group entitled Breathe. He has performed at several large-scale music festivals, creating his own niche amongst jam band circles.

Although he has released one live record featuring his looped onstage antics, Williams also has five studio albums under his belt, most of which feature a full backup band, which he uses to create a strong contrast to his concerts.

"I try to make the studio stuff different from the live show," he said. "In the studio, the possibilities are infinite."

Williams is currently supporting his latest release, Laugh, which came out in early February. The tour continues into the summer, when Keller will continue his music festival tradition, including a stop in Tennessee for the much-hyped Bonnaroo Festival.

After years of touring and simply strumming out the sound that he supposedly uses just to entertain himself though, Williams is happy to have used his unconventional live show to connect with a group of devoted music fans.

"My audience mainly consists of open-minded, young, free spirited dance freaks," he said. "A lot of times there's just this crazy connection."