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It's a natural question for a performer like Abby Travis, wondering which came first -- the sensual style or the musical talent -- but in the end, the answers matters little, because both are sumptuous feasts for the respective senses.

Whether she's channeling visions of Bettie Page or Michelle Pfeiffer's piano-crawling, lounge-singing diva in "The Fabulous Baker Boys," Abby Travis knows how to entertain. She's been doing it since she was a teen. You might even say it's what she was born to do.

"When I was younger, I had this 1920s hairdo, and I started doing these really stylized pictures," Travis told The Daily Times this week. "People would say, 'You have an old-fashioned face,' and I've always liked costuming -- I've always had an eye for the glamour of the past. So I think the visual thing started before the music.

"As I got to be a better singer, I got to thinking of how rock 'n' roll is about sexuality as well as a myriad of other topics, and I wanted to present a female take on that, that wasn't necessarily hard. I wanted to try and express that side of myself through my voice. I'm a triple Scorpio, so it's part of the package, so to speak. I thought, well, if Mick Jagger can go out and be as sexy as he wants to be, then it's the right of any rock 'n' roller!"

Travis has been rocking and rolling for 20 years now, ever since landing the bass gig as a teen for the Los Angeles band The Love Dolls. After a stint in that group, her skill on the four-string put her in the upper echelon of in-demand bass players, and she toured in support of everyone from Spinal Tap to Butthole Surfers singer Gibby Haynes to X front woman Exene Cervenka to back-to-back sets at Lollapalooza 1995, where she played for both Elastica and Beck.

During that time, she also served as the house bassist at Club Makeup, where she played with everyone from spontaneous guests like Dee Dee Ramone to drag-queens covering Queen. Queen, incidentally -- more specifically, the late Queen vocalist Freddie Mercury -- was a huge influence on her singing style, Travis said.

"On my first record (1998's "Abby Travis Foundation"), you can hear I'm trying to be Freddie Mercury, and it's not working," she said. "I just loved him so much that I wanted to be him -- but I had to find my own voice. My music has been classified as cabaret, or whatever label people want to put on things, but that's the way I have to write. I have to write for my voice, and I'm more of a crooner than a belter.

"Julie London, I think, was a big influence on me. I love her phrasing, the very relaxed way she conveys the lyrics, and I remember someone asking me, 'What do you think about when you're singing your songs?' That really kind of opened my eyes. Before, I was worried just about not screwing it up, but now I try to think about the lyrics and what they mean, and because of that, I don't ever really sing something the same way twice. It's always reinterpreted, and that might come from my enjoyment of improvisation, but it's also a way to keep the material fresh."

In the years since, she's released 2002's "Cutthroat Standards and Black Pop" and "Glitter Mouth," released in 2006. In January, she released a benefit single, "Lies," recorded with members of '80s girl-glam group The Bangles, and she's in the process of preparing her next studio effort, she said. That glam, she said, will be reflected in the new album, but first up is a stop tonight at Barley's in Knoxville's Old City. And since she's playing bass herself this time around, expect less costume changes and more rocking out than when she's backed by a full band.

"I'm just bringing a four-piece, and it's streamlined and pretty rocking, but we'll break it down and have a little cabaret section in the middle of it," she said. "I'll just put down the bass and sing some songs with piano and accompaniment. I'm not sure what I'm going to wear yet -- I might bust out a Marlene Dietrich suit."