If Athens were Oz, R.E.M. a scarecrow and Widespread Panic a tin man, then John Keane would be the Wizard. Luckily, it doesn’t take witches and flying monkeys to lure Keane out from behind the curtain.

Tonight the renowned producer of Athens musical legends will take a break from perfecting the sound of other artists and perform alongside friend Nathan Sheppard. The duo will play two long sets, one of Sheppard’s original music and one of covers.

“These probably aren’t covers you would know,” Sheppard said to dissuade any thoughts of them acting as a tribute band. “They’re more obscure than most songs cover bands would play.”

Besides, covers aren’t exactly Keane’s style. Keane ventured into the musical world at the tender age of eight and has been blazing the trail for new artists and original songs ever since.

“I started taking guitar lessons when I was eight, but I fell in love with recording music at age 12 when I received a cassette recorder for Christmas,” he said.

The Athens native moved from amateur home recordings to studio recordings when he bought equipment from local musician Randall Bramblett in 1980. He opened John Keane Studios, the birthplace of records from R.E.M., the Indigo Girls, Uncle Tupelo and Widespread Panic.

“I think the album I’m most proud of is Widespread Panic’s ‘Ain’t Life Grand,’” he said. “We record a wide variety of artists, but the common thread is that everything is organically produced. It’s people playing instruments live in a room without electric recordings. It’s also all pretty roots-oriented.”

Whenever Keane ventures out of the studio to show off his musical skill, it’s usually as a member of psychedelic rock band Strawberry Flats. His duo appearance with Sheppard is a new facet of Keane’s musical repertoire.

“I’ve known Sheppard for a long time,” he said. “I ran into him on the street a couple of months ago, and he asked if I would play with him. So it just sort of grew from there.”

Vocally, Sheppard’s childhood gospel church choir in Savannah and his high school barbershop quartet were very influential. Stylistically, he draws inspiration from Bob Dylan, John Denver and Woodie Guthrie.

Sheppard started performing at open mic nights in Athens in the 1980s and now plays along the East Coast. During the past year he worked on two albums he will release this fall.

“The albums are all original acoustic-based music,” he said. “They’re very simple and word-oriented. I feel like I’ve really taken my writing to a new level. It’s less introspective, less about me and more about what’s going on in the world.”