Kevin Watson isn't a household name just yet, but the Oklahoma musician is beginning to make a name for himself throughout the jam band community.

The Oklahoma City native has shared the stage with members of the String Cheese Incident, Railroad Earth, Hot Buttered Rum, My-Tea Kind and many more.

Watson's talent for writing soulful lyrics with a positive outlook has given him the opportunity to play shows across the Sooner state, as well as major festivals and tours in Colorado.

His acoustic-driven songs are influenced by an appreciation for different types of music.

"I try to write songs in different styles to play around and experiment with different aspects of different genres, so it's kind of hard to put a blanket term over what style I have," Watson said. "I try to write a lot more positive, uplifting style music and stay away from the 'Debbie Downer,' sappy little guy up there singing songs. It's something that brings me the most joy in my life so I try to express that with the music."

Watson said he first started playing shows while attending school at the University of Tulsa.

"There was a guy that had an every Wednesday gig right around the corner off campus and we'd go up there a bunch," he said. "I was just talking to him about how I played and wanted to get into the world of doing shows and he told me to come up and play during his set break. I think like two or three weeks after that he was going out on the road, and the bar liked me and asked if I wanted to do the every Wednesday thing. It just kind of grew from there."

Watson recorded his first album, "Kevin Watson & Friends: Live at The Deli," this past summer.

"It was recorded in June at The Deli and was originally gonna be just a duo of me and my good friend Jeff Porter, a percussion player," he said. "I had been hoping that a friend of mine named Josh Coffman, saxophone player from a band called Tech Tonic, would be able to make it down and he did. Boyd Littell from Mama Sweet also played with us. They both came into it incredibly blind so it was very, very improvisational on their parts. It came out really good as a live recording so we decided to make a CD out of it."

Watson recently returned from a short tour in Colorado and currently has shows scheduled in Oklahoma through the end of November, including a "Kevin Watson and Friends" show tonight at The Deli, 309 White St.

For more information, visit http://www.myspace.com/kevinwatsonmusic.