POP MUSIC REVIEW : Foster & Lloyd: An Exuberant Country Set

Judging from their spirited set at the Crazy Horse in Santa Ana on Thursday night, Nashville’s Foster & Lloyd well may prove to be country music’s Lennon and McCartney.

The duo’s performance was rich with youthful exuberance, their harmonies were close and complementary, and their songwriting prowess was evident through an abundance of subtle hooks, haunting melodies and lyrical honesty.

It was nice to see such a young group playing with so much authority and conviction.

The highlight of the set was “Texas 1880,” a wistful song about the cowboy life that smacked of bumpy roads and dust in your mouth.

“Since I Found You” was given a nice rockabilly edge that was missing in the rendition that Sweethearts of the Rodeo took into the Top 5 a couple of years back.

When the signature guitar riff was heard from “Crazy Over You,” the duo’s own Top 3 country hit of late last year, the near-capacity audience started clapping along immediately.

And as licks were traded back and forth by Bill Lloyd, a guitarist who knows the value of economy, and steel player Bruce Bouton (formerly of Ricky Skaggs’ band), the song was transformed into cowboy jazz at its finest.

Talking easily with the crowd, Lloyd and Radney Foster were all Southern charm, often telling stories about their songs’ origins.

Rosie Flores made a special guest appearance during the first encore, joining in on a free-for-all “Twelve Bar Blues.”

The next encore, Buddy Holly’s “Rave On,” had all the elements of a sock hop thriller: lots of strumming, a pound-down bridge and a sense of reckless abandon.

For that matter, all the choices of cover material were impeccable-- the dbs’ “White Train,” John Fogerty’s “Almost Saturday Night,” even the Beatles’ “I Feel Fine,” with twangy runs by guitarist Mike McAdams, formerly of Steve Earle’s Dukes.