MUSIC: LEO DOWNEY : He’s Everywhere : The man is alive and wanted. And he’s probably performing somewhere tonight.

A person could see Leo Downey’s face on walls all over town at least as often as Bonnie and Clyde when they were popular. But it’s not the cops that want Downey, it’s Santa Barbara music lovers. The guy’s got fans.

Downey is the musical equivalent of weather in the Midwest--if you don’t like it now, wait a minute. Downey, 30, has been a musician for half of his life, and a performer since he was 19. He’s as hard to pin down as Houdini’s shadow.

First of all, he’s an accomplished classical guitarist. He also fronts a regular rock band, The Leo Downey Band, which has anywhere from three to a million members. They rock hard. They rock soft. They rock in between. They do mostly originals; they can do covers.

Downey was born in Singapore, but has lived in Santa Barbara for 15 years, graduating from Santa Barbara High School. On just about every side of every kiosk in Santa Barbara there is Downey’s face staring at you from a poster advertising his next gig, which is seemingly every night. He is as ubiquitous as a skilled politician. He’s everywhere. And he’s only one guy.

“No, we really don’t play that much,” said Downey in a recent interview. He plays The Ketch on Thursdays and The Grill in Montecito on Tuesdays with a three-man band. And he’s doing a solo show at The Green Dragon on Saturday.

“The whole band has only played together about 10 times. The membership sort of fluctuates. The band has only been around for about 2 1/2 years--we played on St. Patrick’s Day for our first gig. The last original member, Jack Folks died last month--he was only 37. He got leukemia, and within two months, he was dead.”

When Downey does his regular Tuesday and Thursday gigs, it’s with two other musicians, guitarist Jason Frost and harmonica player Tom Crockett. He begins with a set of classical acoustic guitar songs before the other members show up around 10:30. “I need both types of music--classical and rock. I don’t know a damn thing about music--I’m entirely self-taught. I suppose I’d like to make it as a rocker because I always have the classical stuff as well.”

He’s doing OK as a hyphenate. A classical CD Downey made a few years ago has recently been added to the play list of a Los Angeles easy-listening station. A full-on rock CD, “Heaven and Hell,” featuring the band has sold more than 400 copies the first month.

“Hopefully I can land some sort of distribution deal for the new one,” Downey said. “We’ve done a few showcase gigs in L.A. and some industry people from three different labels have expressed interest. I just want to be able to make more music and play all over the world.”

While Downey is easy to find around the Santa Barbara night club scene, other times he can be as invisible as friends on moving day. From time to time, Downey disappears for a wildlife sabbatical.

“Usually I go over the hill,” said Downey pointing, “into the San Rafael Wilderness. Sometimes I need to just get away and be happy. The music business can be pretty high pressure, so I just go out into the woods to relax and write a little bit. In fact I just came back--I was gone for four days.”

Downey doesn’t have a day job--music is his business, although he had some part-time work a few weeks back--helping to fight the recent Santa Barbara fire. He helped save Joe Cocker’s house.

But for now, he’ll be found at The Ketch on Thursday, surrounded by adoring fans. It’s a mellow Santa-Barbara-chic, State Street hangout (with patios and everything) and it’s free.