You've seen the bumper stickers before: "Think globally, act locally."

That would be a good way to look at what Salem musician Billy Wallace and his bandmates in The Wading Girl are up to these days.

Following Internet giveaways from such international acts as Radiohead and Rage Against the Machine, Wallace has started a Web-only music label, Uneasy Records. The site, which Wallace expects will be functional by the time you read this, will give away his music and The Wading Girls', and will give surfers the option of donating money to the acts on his label.

"If you let people download it, at least they're listening to it," he said. "If they want to donate some money, they can donate some money. At least they won't be downloading it illegally."

He added: "Anyway, you make way more money playing live than you ever generate with record sales."

The Wading Girl was once signed to the independent American Laundromat Records, but with the label focusing its resources on making tribute albums for various name acts, the band decided to go it alone. The band pitched its last recording, "The Miriam Demos," to some indie labels and got some interest, Wallace said.

"But the music industry is in such a bad place right now," he said. He decided to try a new model.

The first test for Uneasy Records will come with its upcoming release, "TWG EP." You can go to this column at roanoke.com to hear samples from that record.

Fans can still find CDs for sale at the band's shows, for $1 each, in case they want to listen in their cars. That's about the only place Wallace listens to CDs.

"Otherwise, it's my iPod or computer," he said.

He's not sure he and the band will continue to sell CDs via the Internet. But he hopes to sell vinyl online, particularly special editions that feature artwork from band member, Josh Eernisse.

Wallace said other local acts might be joining the label soon. Paypal buttons will allow fans to specify which artist gets the money. Uneasy Records will take only its costs from the kitty, he said.

He talked with the members of two other bands, Red Clay River and The Bastards of Fate, and both are interested.

"But both of them just pressed new CDs," he said, laughing. "I told them, 'You might want to sell those first.'"

Wallace got the idea for the label name while reading on his day job at Ram's Head Book Shop in Towers Shopping Center. He saw the word "uneasy" and thought it worked on a couple of different levels -- it could mean anxious, or it could mean that a venture is not easy.

"The music industry is both of those things," he said. "I'm excited about it. I think it could be really cool."

Check out the new stuff on the Web, at uneasyrecords.com/, myspace.com/uneasyrecords and myspace.com/thewadinggirl. Then go to blogs.roanoke.com/rtblogs/cutnscratch/ and tell me what you think about Wallace's idea.

Note and quotes

There are plenty of great shows happening this weekend. The highlights are: Derek Trucks Band at Jefferson Center tonight; and Old Crow Medicine Show at Roanoke Performing Arts Theatre on Saturday.

I wrote about both acts in stories that the paper published over the past week. But you can never get everything into a story, no matter how interesting. So I've added some extra quotes to the blog. You can find them in the national and regional artists category.

Old Crow's Ketch Secor showed the vivid verbal skills that make him a compelling lyricist when talking about Jim Keltner, the session drumming giant who appears on the band's latest CD, "Tennessee Pusher." Go to the blog to read Secor's thoughts on Keltner and Trucks' take on Chicago White Sox baseball manager Ozzie Guillen.