POP MUSIC REVIEWS : Earle and the Dukes: Hillbillies They Ain’t

Steve Earle loves to refer to himself and his music as hillbilly . But his idea of hillbilly-- as played by the singer and his five-piece band the Dukes at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano on Thursday--would make a country music purist cringe. Earle showcased almost every song off his two LPs, last year’s acclaimed “Guitar Town” and this year’s “Exit 0” as well as a few new ones.

Songs like “Angry Young Man,” “I Ain’t Never Satisfied” and “Gettin’ Tough,” with their heavy, mid-tempo rock bottoms and infuriated lyrics, sound almost like heavy-metal compared to true hillbilly music--even when filled up with country-style keyboard parts and lap steel guitar.

“Sweet Little 66” is the Beach Boys meet Bruce--and to prove the point, Earle led into it with a few verses of Springsteen’s “Racing in the Streets.” And the band’s version of the Rolling Stones’ “Dead Flowers” could have been done by the Replacements or R.E.M. sooner than Mickey Gilley.

With his headband, earring, tattoo and shoulder-length biker’s hair, Earle (who was also scheduled to headline the Palace Friday) looks like the kind of guy you wouldn’t want to meet in a bar after closing--and often do. At the Coach House he stood center stage in front of a veritable wall of guitars, whooping it up, sweating it out, and grinning his beatific, look-ma-I made-it grin.

The only thing remotely country about Earle’s two-hour-plus show was his pacing. It dragged in parts, mostly because the difference in tempo between his fast songs and his slow songs is minuscule--if not nonexistent.