Local Efforts Move O.C. Closer to Country : Jann Browne Shows Star Power, Pickit Line and Reed Brothers Sound Good on New Albums

If Los Angeles is “A Town South of Bakersfield,” as the title of a compilation album showcasing L.A. country music put it a few years back, then we must be living in “A County Even Farther South of Bakersfield.”

There’s no denying that Orange County is an outlying burg when it comes to country. Other than the Crazy Horse Steak House, that little acre of honky-tonkdom nestled against the Costa Mesa Freeway, there isn’t much here that has made the country music world pay attention to the local scene.

Jann Browne is the singer with the best chance of changing that. Last year, her debut album, “Tell Me Why,” produced a Top 20 single and cast her as a legitimate contender for country stardom. Now comes a strong followup, “It Only Hurts When I Laugh.” Due Tuesday, it should move Browne up a few more rungs.

Pickit Line and the Reed Brothers, whose self-released debut cassettes also are reviewed below, aren’t aiming for the big time just yet, but they show that there is some interesting stuff stirring among the local grass roots. The rating system ranges from * (poor) to ***** (a classic). Three stars denote a solid recommendation.

*** Jann Browne “It Only Hurts When I Laugh” (Curb)

Browne’s first album, “Tell Me Why,” was diverse and extremely well-wrought but safely conservative, and “It Only Hurts When I Laugh” doesn’t stray from its predecessor’s straightforward, country-traditionalist line. But if Browne is no innovator, she does a fine job of digging deep into familiar styles and situations to come up with moments of emotional immediacy. The songs are more memorable than on “Tell Me Why,” and Browne inhabits them with more of her own personality. In short, she’s making progress.

Teamed again with producer Steve Fishell, a veteran of Emmylou Harris’ band, Browne is backed by a crop of all-star pickers who get in some exhilarating licks, sounding considerably more charged and cohesive than the usual collection of country-session players doing their routine studio turns. Albert Lee is a marvel on lead guitar, especially on a blazing acoustic number, “Who’s Gonna Be Your Next Love.” Duane Eddy supplies some of his lusciously reverberating bassy guitar figures on “Where the Sidewalk Ends.”

The main themes here are constancy and commitment in relationships--or, more precisely, what happens when one party can’t muster the constancy to commit. It’s a familiar subject, of course, but Browne avoids staleness by examining it from several angles.

There are plaintive laments such as “Better Love Next Time,” which bids a mildly reproachful farewell to a lover who has given Browne the brushoff, and “I Wish It Would Rain,” a sweetly melancholy Nanci Griffith tune about unrequited love.

Browne shows a tougher side as the album progresses. “Who’s Gonna Be Your Next Love,” which she co-wrote, is an up-tempo, bluegrass-inflected song that levels an inconstant ex in his tracks. On “I Don’t Do Floors,” Browne’s acerbic honky-tonk delivery makes her sound like anything but a doormat.

Having established both tenderness and toughness, Browne ends with a pair of emotionally complex songs that examine the dynamics of leaving and being left. On “Where the Sidewalk Ends,” co-written by Southern California country contender Jim Lauderdale, Browne sounds alternately wistful and assertive as she stands at a train station bidding goodby to a lover she could have followed, but won’t. The sadness of being left is there, but so is the self-possession of a woman determined to have a relationship that works on her own terms, in the place where she chooses to be.

“I’m not afraid to go, you bet I’m not,” Browne sings with proud ferocity as she defends her decision to stay put. “Where the sidewalk ends, you left a lot.”

In the aching concluding ballad, “Where Nobody Knows My Name” (co-written by John Hiatt), Browne reverses roles and plays a character who gives up on a troubled relationship by slinking off into isolation without even saying goodby. It conveys some hope for a new start, but also self-reproach over a failed ending. In capturing such complexities, Browne becomes more than just another pretty voice with a twang.

Browne and her touring band play at the Crazy Horse Steak House on May 28.

** 1/2 Dennis Roger Reed and Don Reed “Nickels and Dimes”

The Reed brothers deal in folk-inflected country songs that, at their best, probe deeply into ailing relationships.

Singer-songwriter Dennis Roger Reed has a scratchy but tuneful tone that can recall folk-rocker Peter Case’s more subdued moods, or parallel the broken, reedy sound of Jerry Garcia. Don Reed’s guitar work is fluid and often tasty, but some of his solos subside into a too-even flow of notes. A little more lean tension and dynamic variation could have made his playing more vivid and underscored the songs’ meanings.

The best songs, “Nearly Nevada” and “Just Look in the Mirror,” offer lovely melodies and uncommonly intimate expressions of hurt. In “Nevada,” a man drives off into the night after deciding his marriage is finished, then turns back to give it one more try. Dennis Roger’s nearly tearful delivery never seems overdone as he conveys both relief that he didn’t cross the line of no-return, and awareness that he is going back to a deeply troubled home. “Mirror” captures the moment in which a couple confronts an emotional divide that has grown too great to bridge. The song’s downward-stepping melodic hook parallels the course its protagonists’ relationship has taken.

“Broken Line” works up a Romeo and Juliet scenario as a Yankee boy falls for a Mexican girl who is on the run from la migra .

For contrast, the Reeds offer a bit of tempered rockabilly boogie on the springy (but cliched) “Nickels and Dimes,” or engage in some hangdog humor on “Drinking Rye Whiskey” and “King.” An instrumental piece, “Marbles,” opens and closes the album with a pleasantly woozy meander.

“Nickels and Dimes” is available for $10 from D.R. Reed Music, 811 Puente, 3, San Clemente 92672, or at Reed Brothers gigs. The duo plays every Wednesday night through May at the Marine Room Tavern in Laguna Beach, and every Friday and Saturday night from May 10 to June 15 at the Old Dana Point Cafe in Dana Point.

** 1/2 Pickit Line “Pickit Line”

Pickit Line takes those essential bluegrass ingredients, crackling string work and crisp vocal harmonizing, and applies them to contemporary material.

The four-member band shows a mystical (though sentimentalized) streak as it sings about the comforting dreams of such underdogs as the homeless waif of “Sleep Away” (a less-inspired take on William Blake’s “The Chimney Sweeper”) or the prison inmate of “I’ll Break Out Again Tonight.” The rousing “Wendigo” offers a vision of a ghostly, indomitable American Indian spirit, while a remake of Buck Owens’ “Tall Dark Stranger,” another supernatural number, is done with ample drive and alarm.

Sometimes, though, Pickit Line doesn’t muster enough bite. An a cappella gospel tune is breezy when it could have used a note of urgency; a version of Dennis Roger Reed’s “Nearly Nevada” comes across too sweetly, with Janet Beazley’s lead vocal suffering from some exaggeratedly rustic mannerisms (“gone” becomes “guh-awn”).

Still, there is plenty of talent on display, and the recording captures it cleanly. Garrison Shirreffs sings most of the lead parts in a voice that is firm and declamatory but capable of aching sweetness; he also plays nimble mandolin solos. Beazley holds the harmonies together, and her banjo work is forceful and brisk. Guitarist Marshall Andrews pitches in with a couple of more scratchy, homespun vocal leads. The result is a varied album that rolls along enjoyably, but doesn’t resonate or cut deep in a way that goes beyond the pleasures of good singin’ and good playin.’

Tapes are available for $11.50 from Marshall Andrews, 24501 Alta Vista Drive, 4, Dana Point 92629, or at Pickit Line gigs. The band plays every Tuesday night at the Old Dana Point Cafe.

CONCERT POSTPONED: The Deep Purple/Winger/Vixen concert scheduled for May 11 at Irvine Meadows has been postponed. No new date has been set. Tickets will be honored when the show is rescheduled, or can be refunded at the place of purchase.