"I'm computer illiterate."

Kurt Neumann, one half of the music-writing team of the roots-rock band the BoDeans, more or less can't find his way around a PC. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, mind you. What does he need to use a computer for?

For his work, all Neumann really needs is a pen, some paper and a guitar. Making music, essentially, is what Kurt Neumann does best. Just ask the 10,000 fans who came out to see the BoDeans in Chicago last September, or the thousands of other fans who line up to watch their favorite Milwaukee-based quintet hit Summerfest each year.

Even though he may not know his way around a desktop PC, Neumann can talk his way through any conversation on music. His roots are seeped in Midwestern goodness, but his musical spectrum is broad. Neumann admires artists like Vivaldi who created some of classical music's more beautiful concertos. He strives to write songs like Wynton Marsalis, one of the leading players in modern jazz. When it comes down to it, however, Neumann knows rock, and rock is what this cat's been doing right for the last 15 years.

During his career with the BoDeans, Neumann has traveled in some heady company. The Band's Robbie Robertson produced his work. His recording of "Atlantic City" (for a Bruce Springsteen tribute) was chosen as the album's single. And he recently flew down to Memphis to work with Scotty Moore, Elvis Presley's original guitarist. With all that great talent surrounding him, one would expect Neumann to be affected or to possess an inflated ego.

Not the case.

Neumann is fairly humble about his work, but that's not to say music -- and those who play it -- isn't important to him. What he doesn't seem to buy into, however, is the "here and nowness" of music and the industry. He explains how MTV can pigeonhole a band and an entire musical genre. "There's so much more out there that is good music, like world music," he said. "It's people doing what they want and not big corporations defining what should be."

"I don't even want to get involved in the business side of things with the band," Neumann said while sitting backstage at the Rosemont Theatre in Chicago. "I have a strong musical feeling in me right now. My heart is in the music at the moment." Neumann and bandmate Sam Llanas met back in high school in Waukesha, Wis., a small town between Milwaukee and Madison. It's pretty much corn fields and rolling hills and business parks, a simple sound from a laid back place. But in all this simplicity was an honesty that allowed their music to flourish.

Once they started playing and picking up steam in Milwaukee, it was only a matter of time before music fans an hour south in Chicago would catch on to their first album, Love & Hope & Sex & Dreams. "We first played the Metro [a popular Chicago venue] and I remember there were people everywhere -- it was crazy," Neumann said.

Only a few years earlier, Neumann and Llanas were listening to art rock bands like Queen and Yes, saying how cool it would be to make music. Then the Rolling Stones released Some Girls, an album that was so ahead of its time musically that it practically forced Neumann to turn to songwriting. When the album debuted, Neumann was a drummer. He played the skins his whole life, but having a natural flair for songs, Neumann had a bunch of words in him. "I picked up the guitar because I couldn't find anyone who was writing songs," Neumann said. "I wanted to write original stuff and that was the only way I could do it. It didn't take too long to learn because my mom played guitar."

Most people were introduced to the BoDeans' music through their song "Closer to Free," the theme song of the Fox drama Party Of Five, a show about five siblings whose parents were killed by a drunk driver. "I don't want to be known that way," Neumann said. The summer the show debuted, the BoDeans got a lot of exposure and were asked to perform at a plethora of Top 40 radio concerts. "No one knew who we were until we played that song."

When the band first started coming up in Milwaukee and Chicago, they recruited a very loyal cult following. Their music is rock, with hints of twangy, alternative country. And their fans love it. Go to any BoDeans show in the Midwest, and you will see a sold-out crowd singing every word to every song the band plays.

"Milwaukee was a city that didn't get hit by big musical trends and our fans weren't very trendy people," Neumann admitted. This allowed the band to grow steadily without having the pressure of succumbing to the tastes of the MTV generation. In 1987, the BoDeans were named the best new band by Rolling Stone magazine. They opened a slew of dates on U2's Joshua Tree tour. In the last 10 years, their music has more or less stayed true to the rock-based format while the band they opened for has gone on to explore things like electronica. "You have to respect [U2's] ability to experiment," Neumann said. "I've never believed there's such a thing as good music or bad music. You either get it or you don't."

Right now, both Neumann and Llanas get it. They've each got so much music in their heads that they are taking a temporary break from the BoDeans. This coming winter, each singer will work on a solo project, but Neumann promises spring will see the production of a new BoDeans album. His project will focus more on his drum roots, and he's not really sure how it's going to play out.

"I've just begun to experiment with some new sounds. Maybe it'll work, maybe it won't, but I am having fun with it and that's good."

ARI BENDERSKY