POP MUSIC REVIEW : Three Bands Bring Forth Blues Power : Driven by guitars and harmonicas, the music kept dancers jumping on the usually crowded dance floor.

So they didn’t turn Bogart’s into a wee green wedge of County Cork for St. Patrick’s Day. The revelers didn’t seem too disappointed Saturday night: turning it into a little blue acre of County Cook was a grand idea, too.

The William Clarke Blues Band, the Debbie Davies Band and Luke & the Locomotives combined for more than three hours of authentic, traditionally slanted electric blues that made it easy to imagine that the south side of Long Beach had been annexed to the south side of Chicago.

Driven by guitars and harmonicas, the three bands kept the dancers jumping and sweating on a usually crowded floor while making a good show of strength for local blues power.

Each act has close ties to Orange County’s blues scene: Before signing recently with Alligator Records, the Chicago-based heavyweight of blues labels, Clarke put out two albums for Rivera Records, the small traditional blues label based in Orange. Davies, a touring member of Albert Collins’ band, the Icebreakers, is a regular attraction at the Sunset Pub in Sunset Beach (she plays there tonight). And Luke & the Locomotives, based in Huntington Beach, are local contenders who play extensively in Orange County, honing their act while awaiting their chance for national exposure.

Clarke’s headlining set quickly justified his standing as a six-time nominee for the W.C. Handy Awards, the Grammys of the blues world. High energy and high impact are the strong suits for this bulky, bearded singer-harmonica player from Torrance. The rollicking opening instrumental was a good example of the approach, with Clarke generating an impressive swirling tone on his harmonica, stopping only to let drummer Eddie Clark fly through some dramatic, big band jazz flourishes.

Dressed in a dark suit and Blues Brothers shades, Clarke cut an old-line blues man figure. Most of his material leaned toward the swaggering side of the blues--including a reworking of Muddy Waters’ “Hoochie Coochie Man” and a number of songs on the old theme of a wronged man firmly asserting his rights to better treatment from women of questionable fidelity. These came across in a firm, growly voice that was forceful without straining for effect. The drawback to the 70-minute set was that Clarke stayed too constantly in that gruff, swaggering guise. A few more emotional shades would have helped.

The Debbie Davies Band, on the surface, is something of a blues novelty: Women blues singers are common enough, but it is rare to see female instrumental soloists fronting bands. In Davies, the guitar-slinging leader, and harmonica player Kelly Rucker, who shared lead vocals, the Davies band had two blond ponytails in the spotlight.

Instead of playing up that novelty value, Davies and her band went for straightforward traditionalism in their 80-minute set. Working beside Collins clearly has had its effect--Davies’ set was full of his style of funky-bottomed blues, with the guitar solos coming in frequent flurries.

Davies’ band functioned like a basketball team that lacks a superstar but manages to be competitive because each role player complements the others. Davies’ guitar work was clean, swift and precisely enunciated, not innovative, but full of tasty, familiar pleasures. Co-guitarist Danny Krieger would come in with more agitated, rough-hewn bursts, often using a slide. Davies’ voice may be more naturally suited to folk-rock than to the low-down blues--it is clear and reedy but lacking in body. With Rucker’s throaty rasp and high-note wails, the band still had that dirty-blues dimension--although her “Come to Mama” wouldn’t make anyone forget Etta James or Koko Taylor.

For now, openers Luke & the Locomotives are not as well-oiled a blues machine as the Clarke and Davies bands. But while Clarke and Davies function primarily as preservers of enjoyable blues verities, leader Robert Lucas and his band have the potential to use the tradition to say something new.

Lucas, a relative youngster at 27, was the most impressive singer on the bill. Raised in a middle-class Long Beach household, Lucas has a voice that sounds rooted in cotton-growing soil. It is deep and resonant, with an elemental quaver that sounds natural rather than assumed just for effect. Judging from his strong, low-down Howlin’ Wolf impersonation, Lucas has all the traditional grounding he needs.

To go with that, Lucas has shown early flickerings of an ability to combine traditional forms with a creative imagination of his own. One of his original songs, “It’s a Big Big City,” was a slow, worryin’ blues that portrayed the landscape of Southern California by transplanting the traditional sound-scape of South Chicago. With grinding accompaniment, Lucas sang about life in the slow, smoggy lane--”The air is hard to breath and the traffic’s a crime/And if you go someplace, bank on standing in line.” From the audience’s whoops and hollers as he sang it, it was apparent he had tapped a nerve as current as the latest dispiriting poll results about the local quality of life. This wasn’t just the blues--it was our blues.

Robert Lucas plays a solo show Tuesday at 8 p.m. at Taka-O, 425 N. El Camino Real, San Clemente. Admission: free. Information: (714) 498-7111. The Debbie Davies Band plays blues Monday at 9 p.m. at the Sunset Pub, 16655 Pacific Coast Highway, Sunset Beach. Admission: free. Information: (213) 592-1926.