POP MUSIC REVIEW : John Anderson Sings at the Top of His Voice : At a Charged Crazy Horse Show, the Country Artist Rocks, Swings and Pleads With the Best of Them

John Anderson may not smash guitars or video-dance the way some country music’s newer sensations do, but he sure can sing. It’s reassuring that such a basic quality still matters in the booming country biz.

It seemed for a while that Anderson had gotten lost in the shuffle. After a breakthrough run of three No. 1 hits in 1982 and ‘83, it appeared he could do no wrong, and he didn’t. But though Anderson’s work remained solid through the years, the vagaries of the music business saw him shunted off to the sidelines: His last incursion into the Top 10 was in 1986.

With a new label--BNA--and a powerful new album, “Seminole Wind,” Anderson has landed himself a No. 4 hit with “Straight Tequila Night.” And judging by the charged early show he put on Monday at the Crazy Horse Steak House, Anderson doesn’t mind this turn of events one bit.

The last time this reviewer saw the Florida-born singer perform, his show was never less than professional, but it did seem less than inspired. Monday, however, he and his six-piece band rocked, swung and pleaded with the best of them.

Garbed in blue jeans, black hat and an Indian blanket jacket, Anderson came out storming, opening with his roadhouse rocker “Black Sheep.” The singer grew up loving rock and blues, and he’s not reluctant to let those roots show in his music.

His strongest suit, though, is his ballad singing. The influence of George Jones and Merle Haggard is often obvious in his voice, but he has forged those influences into one of the most distinctive vocal instruments in country. Along with a range that runs from a persuasive growl to a plaintive tenor, he makes constant use of dynamics, both in his phrasing in his bob-and-weave microphone technique. His words come out shaped differently, and more than the novelty of them fading in and out, they make a listener hear their meaning anew.

There’s no great poetry in such a line as “You married someone else while I was gone” in his “1959,” but when he sang it Monday, his voice made the words resonate with all the weight and sadness they might have found set amid the chapters of a Larry McMurtry novel.

Anderson was as persuasive on the 1981 ballad “I Just Came Home to Count the Memories,” and the current hit “Straight Tequila Night,” a tale of a mending heart that sometimes lashes out.

Along with his songs about hearts in various states of repair, Anderson also sings some of the most evocative nature songs since Marty Robbins’ “Man Walks Among Us” (which would be a natural for Anderson to cover). His current “Seminole Wind” is a moving lament for the unique flora and fauna of Florida, threatened by progress. Throughout the song Monday, Anderson’s passionate vocal was underscored by Joe Spivey’s yearning fiddle bowing.

The standout song of the performance was Fred Carter Jr.’s “An Occasional Eagle” a lyric that skillfully blends the images of the bald eagle as a natural force, a national symbol and a totem of individual courage. Anderson’s glowing, heartfelt vocal made a strong argument for making the song a national anthem.

There was scarcely a wasted moment in the show. A bluegrass segment with Anderson on banjo offered an instrumental, “A Small Farm in Kentucky,” that was simple yet expressive. Mark Knopfler’s “When It Comes to You” (likely to be Anderson’s next single) was a moody minor-key ode well suited to Anderson’s vocal style. “Wild and Blue” reeled out with that unique blend of dignity and drunkenness that Cajun music sometimes captures. Anderson’s biggest hit, “Swingin’,” was another hard-driving country rocker, recalling a house party, with Anderson’s elusive voice darting through its doors and out its windows. He closed his encore with a tender version of “Peace in the Valley” that did Elvis proud.