There's a reason they call it "roots" music.

Oh, it goes by other names, including alt-country and Americana.

But roots music makes sense because, a lot of times, when folks are exposed to it for the first time, a certain emotional roots system takes hold in one's aesthetic topsoil. And sooner or later, with time and nurturing, it's going to blossom in oft-spectacular ways. Maybe you'll just be a fan — but maybe you'll be inspired to play it.

Consider the case of 44-year-old Steve Dedman. The innately skilled singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist is leader of up-and-coming Plywood Cowboy — a Connecticut River Valley roots act that celebrates their seriously hooky debut EP, "Channel 33," with a show and release party Saturday in Old Saybrook's Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center.

It took Dedman a while to get back to his roots, but it happened. Growing up in Orange, he learned piano at 12 and then guitar during his teen years and, like most of his generation, steered immediately towards rock and pop music. As he got older and better, Dedman started doing solo happy hour and restaurant gigs and, during and after college, played in rock and folk cover bands throughout New England.

"It was a lot of fun and educational. We'd focus not on the hits but the obscure B-sides and I learned a lot," Dedman says. "But I'd been exposed to country from an early age. And it was always with me. The real stuff."

Indeed, before he ever took a piano lesson, Dedman remembers his father being a passionate fan of what might be called old-school country music and the work of such immortals as Kris Kristofferson, Roy Acuff, Porter Wagner, Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris and Merle Haggard.

Dedman started writing his own songs almost from that first piano lesson, and, more and more, his material took on Americana structures and qualities. In 2014, Dedman had the opportunity to go to Nashville and showcase some of his original songs. Encouraged by the experience, Dedman returned to Connecticut and, in searching for producer with whom he could evolve his craft, ran across Ira Sakolski, owner of Riverway Studios in East Haddom.

"We became friends and started working together, and he told me something that I've remembered since," Dedman says. "He told me to write songs from the heart, build a band around those songs, record an album, and go for it. And, whatever happens, it'll be fine because it all comes from the heart."

Dedman began searching for players and found lead guitarist/vocalist Austin Gray and bassist Shane Tanner — both of whom had extensive touring and recording resumes.

"Those two guys are the foundation," Dedman says.

Using the reliable musician's grapevine, the Plywood Cowboy lineup was filled out with drummer Jason Apostoleris, violinst/vocalist Emily Marcello, and Ed Iarusso on pedal steel. After rehearsing Dedman's material and getting it all road-tested with gigs, Plywood Cowboy entered Sakowski's studio and laid down the five tracks that ended up on "Channel 33."

While the production is crisp and has a contemporary clarity, Dedman's songs definitely have a nostalgic quality; one can imagine a lonely road trip across the south in the mid-'60s and hearing these songs on some mightily powered C&W radio station of yore.

The various tones of regret and longing — just for example, the struggling alcoholic in "Pour Me Another," the yearning romantic in "Two Hours Past," or in the top-of-the-charts hook from "Heartbreak Ready to Fall" — are time-honored, but Dedman infuses them with his a fine sense of narrative and melody.

Too, the musicians are empathetic and precise, playing fluidly but never too much. It's a very fine, totally competitive recording. Now, along with manager Amanda Kenyon from Blue Crane Music, the band starts networking and using social media to help create an identity. Dedman says the band will work in the traditional context of selling CDs and merch, but he also realizes this is a download culture — and there are plenty of ways to get exposure. That includes live shows.

"Over the last three or four months, we've been doing more and more shows, and I think we're really getting up to speed," Dedman says. "You know, we'd like to do this full time. I have a lot of gratitude for what we've achieved so far, but we're also just starting out. It's going to be fun.

"When I play or write music by myself, it's an incredible experience. But when I share it with the band and we play it for people, there's nothing like it. Music is beat and melody and storytelling; if we can put you into a story and a place and time, there's nothing we'd rather be doing."

Plywood Cowboy, 8 p.m. Saturday, Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center, 300 Main St., Old Saybrook; with Gracie Day in support; $20, $25; records will be available for purchase; 1-877-503-1286.