POP MUSIC REVIEWS : Rousing Return for Buck Owens at the Crazy Horse

Even if Dwight Yoakam had never penned a tune, the country-music world would be indebted to him for prodding Buck Owens out of his business office and back onto the concert stage. That is most certainly where he belongs, as evidenced by a rousing marathon show Monday evening at the Crazy Horse Steak House.

When Owens performed at the Crazy Horse last year, the 60-year-old singer was more alive than anyone had a right to expect, given his nearly 10-year hiatus from touring and recording and a gut-numbing 15 years on “Hee Haw.” Yet there also was a tentative quality to the performance, as if Owens weren’t entirely sure he wanted to devote himself to the music life’s arduous trail a second time.

If he was feeling any such reservations then, they clearly have since dissipated. Monday, Owens burned as hot as he ever did on a 28-song set that spanned both his career and a fair chunk of Chuck Berry’s.

Although Owens has never been quite the on-stage hell-raiser that several of his contemporaries were, and rarely aspired to the deeply personal expression found in his Bakersfield rival Merle Haggard’s songs, he and his Buckaroos possess a quality that is just as rare, if not so dramatic.

Rather than pull the listener into the depths of his soul, Owens creates as strong a rapport with the plain-spoken character of his music. On his best songs, it is not so much like experiencing great art as it is like having a relaxed conversation with an old friend.

Many of the set’s songs have had time to become old acquaintances, representing a litany of hits from Owens’ ‘60s heyday.

Opening with 1963’s “Act Naturally” (also a recent duet with Ringo Starr), he sang “Above and Beyond” and “Playboy” from 1960, “Foolin’ Around” (1961), “Love’s Gonna Live Here” (1963), “My Heart Skips a Beat” (1964), “I’ve Got a Tiger By the Tail” and the instrumental “Buckaroo” (1965), “Waitin’ in Your Welfare Line” (1966), “Sam’s Place” (1967) and others.

The front-porch mood of the songs seemed to work as strongly on stage as it did on the audience, with Owens and his four-piece band sharing grins nearly throughout the show--not sappy Hee-Haw grins, but ones born of simple pleasures and fellowship.

The group might not be quite up to the magic of the classic Buckaroos--which featured the late, irreplaceable guitarist Don Rich--but they still had a spirited band feel. Despite using a digital sampler and a space-age Steinberger guitar (Owens still donned a silver Telecaster), the group had a warm honky-tonk sound.

Owens gave each of the band members a chance to show off. Bassist Doyle Curtsinger (who started with Owens 23 years ago) Hawaiian-yodeled his way through “Isle of Golden Dreams,” while Owens stood behind him pretending to wind him up. Terry Christoffersen, doing double-duty on lead guitar and pedal steel, tore through Chuck Berry’s “Nadine,” and keyboardist Jim Shaw tinkled through Floyd Cramer’s “Last Date.” On “Wipe Out”--showcasing drummer Jim McCarty--the group made the tune sound as if wiping out were something one did on horseback.

For all the good-natured fun of the set--Owens and Curtsinger practically laughed their way through “Crying Time”--Owens also was able to convey the gritty realities of his “Streets of Bakersfield,” and was still able to make his “Together Again” one of the most melancholy happy songs in music.

And, true to the Owens of old, he showed a genuine affinity for rock ‘n’ roll on pulsing versions of Berry’s “Memphis” and “Johnny B. Goode,” and on his own “Hot Dog!”