Pedal steel guitar is a powerful motivator.

Dan Lebowitz, guitarist for Bay Area jam band ALO, began playing pedal steel a few years ago, to further broaden his musically adventurous band's sound.

"It is one of those instruments you play and it really gets under your skin," Lebowitz said of the mournful-sounding instrument. "I can play it all night long."

Lebowitz's love for pedal steel led to Brokedown in Bakersfield, a country side project with Tim Bluhm, lead singer of 1960s-tinged San Francisco rock group the Mother Hips, and Bluhm's wife, Nicki Bluhm, an Americana singer who usually performs with Nicki Bluhm and the Gramblers.

ALO bass player Steve Adams and drummer Dave Brogan form the steady rhythm section of Brokedown, which performs a Haggard-heavy set of country covers from the '50s, '60s and '70s. Portland guitarist Scott Law mans the Telecaster.

Brokedown, playing Saturday night at Marilyn's on K, formed for what was supposed to be a one-off at last summer's High Sierra Music Festival. A highly enthusiastic crowd response sparked more gigs, including one at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, and the group's current California tour.

Lebowitz is playing all the pedal steel he can handle.

"This music is where it really shines," said Lebowitz, speaking by phone from the road, on the way to a Brokedown show in Los Angeles.

Lebowitz grew up in the South Bay, first encountering classic country on his parents' turntable. Drummer Brogan, Lebowitz added, grew up in Tulare, not too far up the 99 from country stronghold Bakersfield.

Lebowitz's coastal driving route to L.A. – after a stop for a San Luis Obispo show – bypassed Bakersfield and the Central Valley. But Brokedown's repertoire enjoys an extended stay in the southern San Joaquin.

A Brokedown set includes a few songs by Buck Owens, an architect of the rock 'n' roll-inflected "Bakersfield Sound," and several songs from fellow Bakersfield son Merle Haggard, including the elegant "Silver Wings" and Dust Bowl-specific "California Cottonfields."

The set list reflects Bluhm's admiration for Haggard, whose music he discovered indirectly. Bluhm first got into the Byrds, then Gram Parsons, the country-rock pioneer and one-time Byrd who was besotted by Haggard's sound.

"Once I heard Merle Haggard's voice, it caught me," Bluhm said of his appreciation for classic country. He later traced the Haggard chain to Lefty Frizzell, Haggard's musical hero.

Brokedown also covers hits by Nashville artists Tammy Wynette, Loretta Lynn and Patsy Cline. The Bluhms have written a few Brokedown songs in the classic-country vein, carefully adhering to a specific style, just as they do with covers.

"We try to do as faithful a rendition as we can," Bluhm said of the covers. "That's a challenge for us, because it's such a different style of music."

The Bluhms trade off lead vocals and harmonize à la Wynette and George Jones, or Lynn and Conway Twitty. The Brokedown singers even fearlessly tackle Wynette's "D-I-V-O–R–C–E."

"There is definitely a tradition of a guy and girl singing" in country, Lebowitz said. "It's (also) in the tradition that the singers were married. Those guys were walking around the house singing together. It is not like they have to organize a rehearsal or anything. They are living it."

The tightly paced country songs require a musical mind-set different from jam band ALO's, Lebowitz said.

His main band "plays 15-minute songs," Lebowitz said with a laugh. "We can fit five (country) songs into that."

BROKEDOWN IN BAKERSFIELD

WHEN: 9:30 p.m. Saturday. The Golden Cadillacs open

WHERE: Marilyn's on K, 908 K St., Sacramento

COST: $12

INFORMATION: (916) 446-4361, www.marilynsonk.com, www.brokedowninbakersfield.com

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Call The Bee's Carla Meyer, (916) 321-1118.

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