O.C. POP MUSIC REVIEW : Collin Raye: From Hanky to Panky

Just when the audience at the Cowboy Boogie Co. thought it was safe to put away their hankies, Collin Raye announced that he was going to follow his ultra-sentimental No. 1 country hit, “In this Life,” with another tear-jerker.

“This next one is so personal that I can hardly get through it without breaking down,” Raye said, dabbing at his eyes with a towel. He paused dramatically and then launched into a rowdy, lighthearted barn burner, “I Want You Bad (and That Ain’t Good).”

Raye’s injection of humor and energy couldn’t have come at a more appropriate moment because he was reaching the climax of his early show Monday night at the Cowboy Boogie. He had saved his two biggest hits, “In This Life” and “Love, Me” until the end, but to have delivered those two weepers back to back would have been deadly. By lightening the mood between the two sad songs, Raye not only kept the energy level of his performance from drooping, he made each of the ballads more effective.

Throughout his 70-minute set, Raye worked the crowd as adroitly as a door-to-door salesman might work a block full of housewives. His every move and gesture, whether it was the intense way he squinted his eyes when he sang “Love, Me” or the way he reached into the audience to touch hands with the crowd on “If I Were You,” seemed programmed for maximum effect.

Raye may not yet have a large enough following to sell out two shows at the Cowboy Boogie Co. but he clearly has his sights set on the big arenas. When that headlining mega-tour comes his way, Raye will be ready: He punctuated almost every song by striking heroic poses. He didn’t chat to the crowd jammed in front of the stage, he shouted to the folks in the back of the building. When Raye flashed a grin, it was so wide it seemed he was trying to sell toothpaste to the kids on the Matterhorn at nearby Disneyland.

Raye’s five-piece band matched his larger-than-life persona with a big sound that was long on bombast and short on subtlety. The players, especially lead guitarist Kraig Hutchens, displayed impressive chops when Raye turned them loose for a country-rock version of “The William Tell Overture,” but through most of the 17-song set, they canceled each other out in the dense swirl of sound.

By show’s end, Raye had managed to wow the audience with spectacular moments including a powerhouse version of Johnny Cash’s “Big River” and his sweetly nostalgic take on the Everly Brothers’ “Let It Be Me,” but he never forged much of an identity.

There’s no doubt that Raye was effective Monday night, but one couldn’t help but feel that Raye has enough talent to be more than just a facile crowd-pleaser. Raye’s performance at the Cowboy Boogie Co. might eventually land him a headlining spot at the Pacific Amphitheatre, but it will never get him into the Country Music Hall of Fame beside such determined individualists as Johnny Cash and George Jones.