If Michael Tiernan has his way, local acoustic music fans will soon look upon his New Acoustic Generation concert series the way Bay Area rock fans once looked upon the legendary Fillmore West or the way big-band fans in New York used to look at the Savoy: as a happening, a place and event that defined the best of the best.

"I want the name to get out there and audiences to trust that there are going to be good performers there," Tiernan said of his NAG series. The third New Acoustic Generation is set for Wednesday at the Belly Up Tavern, site of the previous two. Besides Tiernan, featured performers include Carlos Olmeda, Lindsey Hung, Jane Lui and Aaron Bowen -- local San Diego County-based musicians all.

Tiernan, a Del Mar resident, said when deciding whom to invite, he looks for a compatible attitude more than a specific style.

"If they're into the idea of it, if they're into the spirit of sharing in co-promoting the show," then a musician gets consideration, he said. "We are making it an event, not just another gig." Tiernan is purposely limiting New Acoustic Generation shows to every other month to help build interest, and said he wants all the artists in any NAG show to treat it as something big on their schedule -- and to promote it as such to their fans.

Stylistically, the artists in previous NAG shows have ranged from "blues to Latin to folk," he said. Other than the overriding rule that "it has to fit into the acoustic realm," Tiernan said he's open to a broad range of styles. "I'd like to get some more bluegrassy stuff."

The format of a New Acoustic Generation show is fairly unique, too. Rather than the usual multi-artist show where the acts follow each other out to the stage, Tiernan said the NAG shows open with two to three rounds of a song circle, where all the musicians are onstage together taking turns playing their own songs. It's only after the song circle that there are half-hour sets for each act.

"I want everybody's fans to hear the musicians they don't know," Tiernan said of the format. He said too often at such shows, each band's fans show up, listen to their favorite's set, and then leave.

So far, it seems to be working: the last show, March 15, drew almost 400 people, he said.

That's a far cry from just a couple of years ago when Tiernan was hosting an open mike night at a club in La Mesa. Tiernan initially seeded the weekly gig by inviting some of his favorite local songwriters, but, he said, he soon no longer had to. "I had all these great people showing up to play," he said. The audience soon grew, too, and that's when Tiernan said he wanted to do something similar, but on a larger scale.

While the New Acoustic Generation is still very much an invitational affair for the performers, Tiernan said he now has musicians asking him for a spot on a future NAG bill. "Word has been getting out," he said. "I'm hearing from a lot of other artists I wasn't aware of."

Tiernan said San Diego County's local music environment is exploding right now -- he expects local bands will issue from 150-200 CDs this year alone -- and that finding quality local talent to populate future New Acoustic Generation shows will be the least of his problems.

"San Diego has an insane scene happening," he said.

In fact, with all the local talent to choose from, Tiernan said he thinks he'll perform less in future NAG shows. "As it grows, I probably will take more of a hosting role instead of a performing role."

But growing it is top among his priorities.

"I plan to keep developing the idea as a collective," Tiernan said of the future. "It's another way to keep artists engaged with each other … another venue for us to share."