POP MUSIC REVIEW : Owens’ Drive Undiminished

Old dogs might not learn new tricks, but Buck Owens proved his old tricks are still fresh enough to keep the younger pups yapping at his heels.

The 61-year-old legend upset the country-music status quo more than 30 years ago with his hard-driving Bakersfield sound. That drive was undiminished in a two-hour, 32-song spree Monday at the Crazy Horse in Santa Ana that featured assists from Owens devotees Dwight Yoakam (who urged Owens out of retirement three years ago) and the Desert Rose Band’s Herb Pedersen.

As they traded songs, the sense of continuity from Owens’ work to Yoakam’s was so strong that one could imagine the decades of treacly crossover country separating their efforts had never occurred. Along with some good-natured put-downs--Yoakam at one point mimicked Owens’ singing by chewing each note like a stick of gum--the pair ramrodded through “Truck Drivin’ Man,” “The Streets of Bakersfield” and others with a joyous abandon.

Owens was no less spirited on his own, giving a feeling-drenched vocal to the barroom weeper “A-11,” and rocking through his 1956 “Hot Dog” and a flock of Chuck Berry tunes. He performed three songs from the current “Kickin’ In” album, including the remake of his classic “All the Tea in China.” Merle Haggard’s music may be furrowed with a more singular artistry, but Owens’ best songs convey the equally rare quality of a front-porch commiseration with a close friend.

Joined by Pedersen on the six-song encore, Owens had the audience push the tables and chairs back to make a dance-floor--a fitting finish, since his rhythm-oriented music was born from playing dances and honky-tonks in the ‘50s.