THEY ARE FAMILY THE NEVILLE BROTHERS HAVE STUCK TOGETHER THROUGH SOME HARD TIMES AND HARDER LIVING.(PREVIEW)

Byline: DAVID HINCKLEY Knight Ridder

Ask music fans about the Neville Brothers -- who headline the Fabulous Fourth Festivities at the Empire State Plaza in Albany on Wednesday night -- and their eyes start to twinkle, because the family represents something rock-solid at the heart of American music.

For one thing, just like Smokey Robinson means Detroit and Dion represents the streets of the Bronx, the Nevilles stand for New Orleans, a city with a rich, multi-ethnic music mixture.

So a book by the Neville Brothers sounds like it would have stories about down-home Louisiana session dates and road gigs, maybe spiced up with a few stories about weaselly promoters along the trail.

Well, ``The Brothers Neville'' …