POP MUSIC REVIEW : Highwaymen Take the High Road

Ah, memories.

Johnny Cash once more singing “Folsom Prison Blues”--a tale of lonely resolve that established the Man in Black in the ‘50s as an exciting new force in country music.

Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings joining together again on “Mammas Don’t Let Your Babys Grow Up to Be Cowboys,” a ‘70s hit that helped define the romanticism and independence of country music’s landmark outlaw movement.

Kris Kristofferson reprising “Me and Bobby McGee,” one of the key songs by the former Rhodes Scholar that marked a breakthrough in country music in the ‘70s by blending traditional country sentiment with a harsher, more contemporary literary eye.

With moments like that, how could Saturday’s Highwaymen concert at the Pacific Amphitheatre be anything other than a warm, winning affair?

But the concert offered more than nostalgia. Much more.

For one thing, this tour is the first time Cash, Jennings, Kristofferson and Nelson have ever toured together--and it appears to be as much a treat for them as it is for the fans.

These are singer-songwriters whose lives have crossed frequently--professionally and personally. They have traveled many of the same roads, battled many of the same demons and dreamed many of the same dreams.

Now, as survivors, they are joining together in a celebration that--even after more than two dozen shows--seemed Saturday as enthusiastic as if they were walking on stage for the first time together.

Rather than do separate sets and then all come out for a finale, the four performers were on stage together with a nine-piece band for the entire two hours.

Wisely, they had enough respect for the material to avoid trying to find a place vocally for everybody in every song. On some numbers, three of them simply played rhythm guitar while a fourth sang. At other times, two or more would switch lead vocals in a single song or, when appropriate, all four would sing the chorus.

Rarely dipping into the material from the two “Highwaymen” albums that gave the tour its name, the quartet acknowledged the historic nature of these shows and turned to material from throughout their respective careers.

The nearly 35 songs ranged from early Nelson (“Night Life”) to late Nelson (“Always on My Mind”), from rockabilly Cash (“Big River”) to patriotic Cash (“Ragged Old Flag”), from poet Kristofferson (“Sunday Morning Coming Down”) to preacher Kristofferson (“Why Me Lord”), from rowdy Jennings (“Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way”) to whimsical Jennings (“Wrong”).

The latter Jennings number--an appealing novelty about all the times another perfect love proved wrong! --was the only song from the show that’s currently on the country charts, but the other songs held up so well that all could carry 1990 copyrights.

More than merely spotlighting the imagination and heart of the music of these four superb talents, the concert offered some lessons for the general pop community.

For all its richness over the last 60 or so years, country music continues to be viewed by many outsiders as something of a secondary pop style. But the best country music is blessed with as much insight and grace as the best rock or jazz or soul.

And the outlaw movement--which embraces Merle Haggard as well as the four tour principals--is arguably the most significant strain of country since the post-World War II honky-tonk uprising that delivered such artists as Hank Williams and Lefty Frizzell.

In some ways, however, the ones who may learn the most from this tour are the country music insiders--the disc jockeys and record company executives who seem to be under the delusion that the recycled music and array of new talent (the post-Nelson/Cash generation) in Nashville is better than ever today. Measured against the obvious artistry of the Highwaymen tour (which returns to the Universal Amphitheatre on Oct. 1), that thinking sounds like just another chorus in that latest Jennings hit. Wrong!