POP MUSIC REVIEW : Whittier Park Country Fest

Someone at the weekend “Birthday Bash” country music festival at the hot and dusty Whittier Narrows Park had a good sense of irony: On a Saturday that culminated with Merle Haggard performing a new anti-flag-burning song, someone used a tape of Jackson Browne’s “For America”--which promotes a decidedly conflicting view of patriotism--to fill time between acts at one of four music stages.

But then, this whole event celebrated the incongruities of American culture. Next to a stand dealing rub-on “tattoos” was one trading in peace-sign T-shirts. Over by the outlying stage reserved for Cajun music, sounds of Louisiana blended with the post call from the nearby pig races, while smells of Cajun cuisine mingled with those from the too -nearby pony rides.

Compared to those juxtapositions, the range of music was relatively predictable, though still fairly notable within the context of contemporary country music. From the down-home traditions of the Whites to the occasionally experimental bluegrass and Everly Brothers-influenced style of the O’Kanes to the sentimentality of Gary Morris, the lineup pretty much defined today’s mainstream country spectrum.

Haggard provided an appropriate conclusion to the day. A bit hoarse but otherwise in fine form, he led his band the Strangers through his usual sparkling mix of honky-tonk and swing, finishing with his new patriotic anthem before leaving the stage beneath the rockets’ red glare of pre-Independence Day fireworks.

The “Birthday Bash”--which drew perhaps 15,000, short of the promoters’ prediction of 22,000--ran smoothly, with the music on the two main stages alternating nearly seamlessly. The event was scheduled to continue Sunday with Jerry Lee Lewis topping the bill, followed by “Honky Tonk Monday” today and a Latino-oriented celebration of the Fourth of July on Tuesday.