John Anderson Hopes New LP Will Impress More Than Critics

Five years ago, John Anderson was one of the hottest young male vocalists in country music. But somehow, the Apopka, Fla., born singer managed to get lost in the shuffle as such peers as Ricky Skaggs, George Strait and Randy Travis all passed up the craggy-voiced singer on the charts.

Maybe it was because Anderson, who plays the Crazy Horse in Santa Ana tonight, has never been particularly concerned with having a carefully groomed “look” and isn’t the sort to hire himself an image stylist. Perhaps it’s because Anderson has never been much for appearing on award shows--or even worrying about long-range career plans.

Instead, he’s put most of his time and energy into making records and touring.

“Maybe it’s not the best way to do things,” Anderson said on the phone last week from Medford, Ore., where he was opening for Merle Haggard. “But it’s the only way I know that makes sense to me.”

Since Anderson topped the country charts and cracked Billboard’s Top 50 pop singles with “Swingin’ ” in 1983, things haven’t been the smoothest. Although Anderson started being tagged as the heir-apparent to Lefty Frizzell, country radio started to look askance at his records.

Though the critics continued rallying around records like the expansively progressive “Tokyo, Oklahoma” album in 1985 and the stripped-down “Countrified” LP in 1986, Anderson couldn’t come close to matching the earlier successes of “Wild and Blue,” “Everybody’s Talking” and “Eye of the Hurricane” albums, which yielded hits that included “Black Sheep,” “Let Somebody Else Drive,” “1959” and “I Just Came Home to Count the Memories.”

Was Anderson’s problem in the music or the industry? Anderson doesn’t want to hazard a guess. But he is hoping that his recent switch to MCA Records, a move that’s teamed him with label chief Jimmy Bowen in the studio, will help put him back at the top of the charts.

“We’ve made a lot of changes to try and get our music back on top and I think the change in label has certainly changed my attitude about the way we make our music,” Anderson said. “Working with Bowen, who’s so heavy into his work, is quite an experience because he doesn’t have time to go over and over things until they’re worn out.

“He’s got a certain group of players and engineers that he works with all the time. They all work together real well and know how to get things down. But they also get these great sounds that really made a difference on the record.”

“Blue Skies Again,” Anderson’s first album for MCA, recorded digitally, is easily his best sounding record to date. Anderson’s wonderfully nasal, note-bending voice--placed front and center--is the star of this pure country album.

If there are any surprises, it’s that “Blue Skies Again” is so ballad-heavy. Even Anderson is quick to acknowledge, “We didn’t realize that the record was like that until after we’d finished the photo shoot for the cover. At that point, though, you’ve got to go with what you’ve got.”

Pausing for a moment, Anderson assuages honky-tonk fans who might fear he’s gone soft. “Next time, we’re going to have to kick things up a bit.”

The album does contain one concession for the fans of Anderson’s more uptempo fare, “It’s Hard to Keep This Ship Together.” The song maintains a terseness between the twisting vocals and the rhythm section that underlies Anderson’s career saga.

“When we started writing it, we weren’t approaching the song as anything autobiographical,” Anderson explains. “But there have definitely been times that I have related to and have lived that song.”

It’s that true-to-life quality that originally attracted the young Floridian to country music. Like so many of his peers, Anderson spent a lot of time listening to rock ‘n’ roll, especially the Rolling Stones, when he was in junior high school. But when he started listening to country music, Anderson found something that touched his heart.

“The first time I ever heard Merle Haggard sing ‘Mama Tried’ or George Jones sing ‘The Window Up Above,’ I really believed them,” Anderson said. “There was something about those songs, their voices, that just reached out and touched me. I knew that’s what I wanted to do to people.

“Besides, there’s something to this that is so much more than your average sit-there-and-listen-to-it music. I’ve seen people listening to honky-tonk music scream, holler and beat their heads against the floor. Now that’s what I’d call powerful music.”

JOHN ANDERSON

Tonight, 7 and 10 p.m.

Crazy Horse Steak House, 1580 Brookhollow Drive, Santa Ana

$22.50

Information: (714) 549-1512