POP MUSIC REVIEW : Anderson’s Vocal Style Is Worth a Better Hearing Than He Gives It

John Anderson is far too young to be acting as if he’s one of country’s grizzled warhorses, but so he seemed, for better and worse, in his early show Monday evening at the Crazy Horse Steak House and Saloon.

Like Willie Nelson and other vets, Anderson has carved his own vocal niche in country with an almost-quirky style that makes him immediately recognizable. But, even more like Nelson, his 20-song show was practically running on autopilot. His performance was never less than solid and workmanlike, but it was rarely more than that; one got the impression that it wasn’t a show Anderson is going to remember through the years.

He opened with his early hit, “Black Sheep of the Family,” and closed the pre-encore set with the early-’80s breakthrough hit, “Swingin’.” Between them he stuck to the tried and true, ignoring most of his recent songs from 1989’s “Too Tough to Tame” and the previous year’s “10.”

But while there were few surprises in the song selection, his voice was full of little revelations. Anderson has a plaintive, almost pinched voice that is distinctive enough, but it is his use of dynamics that is unique, the way his voice fades in and out of hearing in the oddest places.

Seeing him live, it becomes obvious that this is not so much the product of his vocal cords as it is from his microphone technique, with his head flinching away from the mike several times during each line of a song. It is no mere novelty, though, as Anderson’s Morse code vocal dropouts seemed to be keyed by his emotions. On the troubled ballad “Down in Tennessee” or his encore “Yellow Creek”--dealing with the Cherokee Indians’ Trail of Tears--his voice, and that sudden lack of it, was a powerful conduit of feelings.

Just as often, though, he delivered rote versions of standards, with the effort of staying tuned to his here-and-gone voice bringing scant reward. It was indeed an effort, because at most points the sound mix had his voice submerged below practically every instrument in his six-piece band. Perhaps the sound man figured that everyone had come to hear the bass player, as the moments were few when Anderson’s voice prevailed in the speakers. Those came only when he put his voice into overdrive, as on the raucous “Let Somebody Else Drive” and a powerfully rendered “Peace in the Valley.”

If all the performances in his set had been as involved, it might have been a tremendous show. But in addition to toss-off versions of “I’m Just an Old Chunk of Coal” and other songs, Anderson chose to clutter the set with two banjo instrumentals. He was competent on the instrument, but so is the guy in the cabin on the “Pirates of the Caribbean” ride.