MACHIAS – When Keller Williams comes to a gig, he brings a whole band with him.

Yet when he takes the stage, he goes on alone.

Confused? After seeing Williams live, you’re more likely to be amazed, as the solo artist creates a band-worth of sounds during one of his shows.

Williams, who will play at 8 p.m. Saturday at Machias Performing Arts Center, accomplishes this by arriving with the right instruments. First there are his eight guitars, including an eight-string custom-made instrument that’s both a guitar and a bass. Instead of a 12-string guitar, he plays with 10 strings. This practice began in the mid-’90s, when he removed two strings in an effort to save a collapsing guitar bridge, tuned the guitar lower than normal, and fell in love with the sound.

The 33-year-old artist also beats out percussion on the guitar body, and creates the sound of such instruments as trumpets and trombones with his mouth.

The latest addition to his repertoire is a Lexicon Jam Man. This device allows him to record lines of bass, guitar, vocals or whatever, then play them back continuously, in a loop, during his performances. While some singer-songwriters do this in the form of background tapes, Williams does all of this recording live, during his performances.

“The flying-without-a-net factor is strong, which keeps the adrenaline level high,” Williams explained by phone from his Fredericksburg, Va., home. “You’re dealing with electronic equipment that could cut out at any time.”

Williams began sampling this approach after observing Victor Wooten of Bela Fleck’s Flecktones in action.

“I was watching him on a solo project, as he lay down bass and melody lines,” he recalled. “It looked so easy and like so much fun. It offered a completely different avenue to veer down, a sense of adventure. It’s not that cheesy; it’s really on the borderline between organic and electronic. It’s just flat-out fun.”

So when Williams decided to cut “Dance,” a remix album of his critically acclaimed 2002 album “Laugh,” it was natural that he went in this direction.

“I’ve gotten into the steadiness, the perfection that underlies electronic music,” he said. “It’s very different from what I’ve been doing, but opposites attract. I decided to take my own music, sample it, and build new songs around it. My fans may not like it, but it’s specifically for my own personal flavor and fun.”

Fun is a word that comes up often when talking with Williams. He’s the perfect antidote to an angst-ridden era, since most of his songs have a positive vibe.

“I’m very, very fortunate to have such a good life,” he said. “I’m doing what I want, chasing this dream. I travel with my wife and our dogs. How much fun I’m having comes through the music. It’s a reflection of my life right now.”

Williams started playing guitar at a young age, inspired by Buck Owens on “Hee-Haw.” Formal lessons never really worked for him; instead a friend showed him some chords when he was 13. By the time he was 16, he was performing Eagles and Jimmy Buffett tunes in local clubs around Fredericksburg.

He played with bands through high school and college, but he went solo again in 1993 after his stint with the All-Natural Band.

“They were all about putting the money we made from gigs into making a record,” Williams recalled. “They all had day jobs. My day job was playing solo on the off nights [from the band]. When the band broke up, I decided to keep that going. I’ve been lucky. It’s been working lately.”

His relationship with members of the jam band String Cheese Incident, whom he met in 1997, has been a part of his success. He’s the only other artist on their label SCI Fidelity.

“Definitely SCI opened up that world to me, and I am extremely grateful for their acceptance of me and their friendship over the years,” he said.

Williams is quite content with the types of venues he’s playing today.

“I’ve been doing larger clubs and smaller theaters [1,000-1,500 seats], where I am most comfortable right now,” he said. “If it planes out where I am right now, I’m pretty happy with it. I wouldn’t shrug it off if it got better, but I wouldn’t want it to get worse.”

Tickets for the Machias show are $10 for the general public. For more information, call 255-1245. Williams also will perform at 8 p.m. Friday at the State Theatre in Portland.