“This is Shawn, he rocks. I’m Clyde, I roll,” is how the opening act for Arlo Guthrie introduced themselves Monday night.

Brothers Clyde and Shawn Brown performed before “the largest crowd they’ve ever played for,” said Shawn’s wife Donna.

Clyde, 37, and Shawn, 25, both began playing guitar at the age of 12. They have been playing together professionally for seven years.

Diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis at 18, Clyde has not let the disease deter his ambition for him and his brother to be successful musicians.

Even though Clyde has been confined to a wheelchair for ten years, he does not want his handicap to be the reason people are interested in them.

Some other journalists “are more interested in the three-wheeled animal than the two-legged animal riding it,” Shawn said.

“My brother and I equally contribute to the act,” Clyde said. The two work together to write their own music and lyrics.

In describing their music Clyde said, “No one has ever been able to get a handle on it. It’s all original and doesn’t fall into any one class of music.”

“I don’t like to classify it (our music),” Shawn said. “Once you push us into a niche like, we play folk, we play rock…, you immediately alienate a group of people who would otherwise be open-minded to our music,” he said.

“In thinking about it a little more, I would classify it as alternative mainstream,” Clyde joked.

“Yeah, two things that don’t really go together, kind of like sweet and sour liver,” Shawn added. “So we’ll just classify it as ‘sweet and sour liver’ and create a whole new musical genre.”

The rapport the two have carries into their stage show and provides comical as well as musical entertainment.

The two have played at Jamnesty and Peace in the Park, as well as DeKalb bars. They can also be seen at the Coffeehouse Restaurant, 131 E. Lincoln Hwy., where Clyde emcees a regular Sunday night show called “Clyde’s Open Stage.”

The two were excited about opening for Arlo Guthrie. “I’m not nervous at all about the audience,” Clyde said. “It’s Arlo that I’m nervous about.”

Clyde and Shawn count Guthrie as one of their favorite performers. Guthrie’s influence shows through their on-stage antics and sometimes sarcastic lyrics.

One song they performed Monday, “We the People” criticizes the Bush/Quayle administration for being “more concerned about the government than the people,” Clyde said. “It seems like the government will prevail even at the expense of the people.”

Clyde and Shawn played to a receptive audience Monday night and for their encore song they played the Dr. Hook song, “The Cover of the Rollin‘ Stone.” Appropriately, the song is about musicians trying to make it big and having fun along the way.