STRADDLING THAT LINE BETWEEN ROCKING AND TWANGING : Nobody Does It Better Than Chris Hillman and Desert Rose

If country and rock had never met, there never would have been all this brouhaha about country being the boom music of the ‘90s.

A good deal of the most popular stuff emanating from Nashville today, including the likes of Garth Brooks and Kathy Mattea, springs from the polished, harmony-rich Southern California rock sound of the early- to mid-’70s that was epitomized by the Eagles, Linda Ronstadt and Poco.

It should come as no surprise that the Desert Rose Band does a better job than just about any current country act of straddling that line between rocking and twanging. Bandleader Chris Hillman was sort of the Zelig of country-rock, popping up in scene after scene as the style developed.

He made his first impact in the jingle-jangle morning of folk-rock as the original bassist for the Byrds. Then he got caught up in the fusion of rock with country. First came the Byrds’ now-acclaimed but then-misunderstood “Sweetheart of the Rodeo” album in the late ‘60s, when Gram Parsons joined the Byrds and steered them in a country direction.

Then Hillman and Parsons broke off to start the Flying Burrito Brothers. Hillman, who had begun as a bluegrass musician while he was growing up in San Diego County, later turned up as part of other, less inspired country-rock amalgamations including Manassas and Souther, Hillman and Furay. Eventually, the hybrid country-rock strain lost its vigor and its credibility, to the point where most of today’s acts rekindling the style shun the “country-rock” label and prefer simply to be known as country performers.

The Desert Rose Band emerged from a Dan Fogelberg tour in 1985 when Hillman, fellow singer-guitarists Herb Pedersen and John Jorgenson and bassist Bill Bryson served as the opening act and played in Fogelberg’s backing band. Along with drummer Steve Duncan and ace pedal steel guitarist Jay Dee Maness, they formed Desert Rose in 1986.

Since then, the band has produced four consistently good albums (plus a “Greatest Hits” collection) in which the playing and harmonizing sparkle and the songwriting steers clear of typical country cliches. While love songs dominate Desert Rose’s repertoire, Hillman also has carried over the social conscience of a ‘60s rocker into his current band.

The question now facing the Desert Rose Band is whether it can keep its timeless balance of strengths in the face of significant personnel changes. Maness was the first to leave, before the recording of the band’s “True Love” album in 1991. Desert Rose came up with a sharp replacement in Tom Brumley, who had played steel guitar with Buck Owens’ Buckaroos. But the band has had to replace drummer Duncan and lead guitarist Jorgenson, who left several months ago.

Jorgenson, especially, will be a hard act to follow. With his incredibly nimble and apt accents and fills and his surging, bassy-twangy power runs, he established himself with Desert Rose as one of the best guitar players in any pop genre. With new members Tim Grogan on guitar and Jeff Ross drumming, the revised Desert Rose Band will be playing its first Orange County date when it stops at the Crazy Horse.

Who: The Desert Rose Band.

When: Monday, June 22, at 7 and 10 p.m.

Where: The Crazy Horse Steak House, 1580 Brookhollow Drive, Santa Ana.

Whereabouts: Take the Costa Mesa (55) Freeway to the Dyer Road exit. From the north, go right on Grand Avenue, then take the first right, Brookhollow Drive; from the south, go left under the overpass, right on Grand and right on Brookhollow.

Wherewithal: $27.50.

Where to call: (714) 549-1512.