POP MUSIC REVIEW : THE KENDALLS STAY CLOSE TO THEIR DOWN-HOME ROOTS

Going into the Kendalls’ two shows Sunday at the Crazy Horse Steak House in Santa Ana, country purists and long-time fans of the Kentucky duo must have been a bit uneasy. Would the flashy new Vogue magazine fashions the father-daughter team wears on the cover of its latest album also mean a drastic change in its essentially down-home country music?

Fortunately, by the end of the hourlong first show, only a trace of hesitation remained about Royce and Jeanne Kendall’s fidelity to their country roots. The bulk of their 18-song set was devoted to those unaffected two-part harmonies that have given them an eight-year string of hits about low-down cheaters, would-be cheaters, reluctant cheaters and repentant cheaters.

Granted, the twosome, which was backed by the seven-piece Movin’ Train band, received an enthusiastic audience reaction to the current single, the Alabama-styled, synthesizer-laden “Four Wheel Drive.” But that bit of disposable country pop sounded particularly lame coming as it did on the heels of “If You Break My Heart,” a plaintive new ballad with a refrain made absolutely chilling by the exquisite interweaving of Royce’s soft-edged tenor with Jeanne’s distinctively cutting, Brenda Lee-tough lead vocals.

The Kendalls can keep shopping on Rodeo Drive if they must, but only as long as it doesn’t require them to turn into yet another nondescript country crossover act.