Don't call Townhall a jam band.

"We don't really jam like [other jam bands] do," said multi-instrumentalist band member Tim Sonnefeld. "We play to that audience sometimes, but I didn't even know what 'jam band' meant until a couple years ago. That's not what we do."

The group, which rolls into Crowbar, 420 E. College Ave., tonight with funk-soulsters Shonuff, might be improvisational by nature. But don't think they're all about the spacey jams.

Even the band's co-manager Carolyn Ballen doesn't think the jam-band label suits the group.

"They're often pigeonholed in the jam genre, but that's just one aspect of them," Ballen said.

Since the band formed while the members were jazz music students at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, for Townhall, "jam" is something more akin to the work of Miles Davis and John Coltrane, not Jerry Garcia and Trey Anastasio.

"Jazz is a very big influence," Sonnefeld said.

"We're all fans of Miles Davis, Charlie Parker and Charles Mingus. I never really even listened to The Grateful Dead or Phish."

Townhall's influences don't stop at jazz, however. The band's deep grooves owe just as much to Bob Marley or Eric Burdon as they do to Dizzy Gillespie.

"We have influences from everywhere," said drummer Kevin Pride.

"A simple way to put [our influences] is 'American music.' "

Ballen stresses the group's uniqueness.

"They have a dedication to complete and total originality," she said.

Townhall's first studio album, The New Song, will be released in January.

Showcasing 12 original tunes, the album features a guest appearance on accordion by a Townhall hero, The Band's Garth Hudson.

"I think it's pretty damn good," Sonnefeld said. "It should take us to the next level."

But the focus, Ballen and the band members agreed, is on the unpredictable live show.

"It's a dizzying musical extravaganza," Ballen said. "There's a little bit of everything for everyone. It's going to be something you can move and groove to."

Sonnefeld seems to be in agreement.

"There should be some good grooves, and hopefully some good-looking girls dancing," Sonnefeld said.

Pride puts it more simply.

"Expect a good show and a good time," he said.

These Pennsylvania natives are no strangers to State College.

"They've played several times at the Crowbar," Ballen said. "They opened for Afroman."

Sonnefeld is glad Townhall is headlining tonight's show, but says he's happy the band had the opportunity to play with some of the acts it has in the past.

"We also opened for The Wailers," Sonnefeld said. "I guess that was a somewhat more receptive crowd than Afroman's."

Ballen, who was a Townhall fan before she was its manager, couldn't be more enthusiastic about the band.

"I saw them for the first time and said 'Oh my god, this is the best band in America,' " she said. "I find I cannot stay still. The shows couldn't be more fun."