On Wednesday, real musicians from a fictional town will play new old-timey music at a place named for an old, dead blues dude. While parts of Arizona might resemble sci fi's surreal take on the red planet, Mars, Ariz. (the place) is fictional. But Mars Arizona (the band) does exist, and will be in Santa Barbara on Wednesday night at Muddy Waters, named for the bluesman. Guitar wiz Dave Gleason, recently relocated to Ventura, will open.

Mars Arizona is a duo, Nicole Storto and Paul Knowles. Despite the fictional name, they're from Northern California, out and about in support of their just-released third effort, "Hello Cruel World.'' The guitar-picking duo can sing up a storm solo or together.

Sideman turned frontman Knowles — the one with the beard who looks like a folkie — might be familiar to local music fans; he used to play guitar for Dave Insley as one of the Careless Smokers. Knowles discussed the latest about his favorite low-budget, traveling-light band.

What's up with the weird name? Is Mars Arizona a small city somewhere in Americana?

Nicole and I met in the Phoenix area and we started writing songs together. We didn't really care for the area, so we would go up to Sedona, Ariz. That's where we came from — this fictional town.

So, the No Depression generation — that's you guys?

Yeah, that's us. We're influenced by a lot of artists from that genre, but we like all kinds of music from classical to the Staples Singers, and a lot of gospel, Gram Parsons, Buck Owens, Tom Waits and Neil Young.

How do you decide which songs to cover?

We do a Neil Young cover on our newest album, and a song by Marc Bolan. Most people know him from the band T.Rex, but he was also an acoustic guy who'd get up there and sit cross-legged with an acoustic guitar. So they might be songs that are in my record collection, and it has to be a song we can do and that moves us. At one point I traded in my vinyl albums for CDs, but now I'm trading in CDs for vinyl.

What's the continuing attraction of vinyl?

I think vinyl is something you can hold in your hand, like a book. You can read the notes on the back, but with a CD, I can't even see the words. Vinyl is a more physical thing; it brings you closer to the artist. None of our albums are on vinyl. If there was a demand, I suppose we would, but I think you have to make a minimum of 100 copies.

How does the new album fit in with your other efforts?

The first one we did was more rock-oriented. We had a band — a drummer and all sorts of guitars. It was still Americana-influenced but definitely more rockin'. We figured if we were going to travel, we couldn't take a band, so for the second album we geared things down and it was more acoustic. Our career has taken us to many places. Our newest album was influenced by Northern California and Nashville — not traditional, but underground Nashville.

What expectations did you have when you started?

We had no expectations and it's worked out really well so far. We did it because Nicole wanted to sing and I'd been playing for years, and together we love playing in front of people and feeding off that energy. We were lucky — our first gig was part of a benefit concert at a famous club in Chicago called the Double Down.

Does the band fit into the folk tradition?

Sure, lyrically we probably do, but we're not activists or anything, maybe re-activists. We want our voices to be heard, but we're not very political.

Are you really just two soloists sharing the stage?

Yes, you'll hear a couple of songs from Nicole, then a couple of mine. She writes; I write; we co-write.

What would you tell an aspiring musician?

Don't get into the business; just make music. Make as many friends as you can. Get as much experience as you can and forget about the business side of things. If you're in this to make it, then you're in the wrong business.

On the Net:

http://www.marsarizona.com