As the world continues to grow more complex, more fraught with the possibility for technological overload, a collective longing for “the real” also grows.

Acoustic guitars. Artisans’ passion. Lyrics and music that come from a place of tradition. These things ground us, reassure us of our humanity.

Just in time, along come Anders Osborne and Luther Dickinson to provide some of that medicine.

The two are both inheritors of American music traditions. Both are also innovators and artisans in their own right, assimilating rock, country, folk, funk and blues into songs that resonate with intimations of the past, present and future.

Osborne, who’s grounded in the sound of New Orleans, his longtime home, and Dickinson, a child of Memphis and Mississippi’s blues country, make a good pair. They’ll appear on Oahu on Sunday, at Turtle Bay Resort’s Surfer the Bar, performing as a stripped-down duo accompanied solely by their guitars and “free to roam,” promoter Mark Tarone said.

This is Osborne’s second public appearance on Oahu, after headlining the Tarone-produced Hallowbaloo festival in 2009.

Osborne has released 13 solo studio albums and one live album. He wrote a hit for Tim McGraw with “Watch the Wind Blow By,” is a veteran of the tour circuit, and was praised for his “fiery anthems and tumultuous confessional songs, punctuated with raw, inspired guitar” by USA Today.

Born in Sweden, and now 50, he left his country as a teenager, and adopted New Orleans as home while still a teen, busking in the streets, then moving into Crescent City clubs and recording studios as his reputation grew.

In talking about his collaboration with Dickinson, Osborne says he is attracted to the way the musician draws on blues, country and gospel sounds. That corresponds to the combined traditions Osborne hears in Louisiana music, with its strains of Irish and British folk, hymns and African chant and rhythm.

Both have found that they can improvise together easily, each listening to the other’s guitar for cues as the music takes on life of its own. “There’s an openness to play in the moment that Luther’s really good at,” Osborne said.

“We’re going to pass around the music, play some beautiful, improvised songs,” he said.

Osborne recognizes similarities between Hawaii and New Orleans: “Friendliness, and a way of living in the moment,” he said — as well as a symbiotic relationship with tourists and travelers, who help make the place a crossroads for different ideas.

“There’s a naturally kind spirit in New Orleans. There’s also a very vibrant nature that’s passed on, eventually, in the type of music we make,” he said.

Dickinson appears on Oahu for the first time at Surfer the Bar. It’s also his first public performance in Hawaii.

Now 43, he had an auspicious recorded debut at age 14, according to music site Rovi, contributing guitar “howls” to a Replacements album produced by his legendary father, Jim (1941-2009). He’s co-founder of North Mississippi Allstars, along with brother Cody, with whom he released nine albums, three nominated for Grammys; and he’s put out three solo albums, one nominated for a Best Folk Album Grammy.

In keeping with his music-steeped upbringing, he’s widely admired for his technical proficiency, as well as his soulful spirit. Gibson produces his namesake model guitar (the Luther Dickinson ES-335). He’s recorded with Robert Plant, Beck, John Hiatt, Mavis Staples and many more.

Critic Ted Drozdowski describes him as a “one-man defibrillator” for roots music — “insurance that the heart of the blues will keep pumping into the future.”