MUSIC / DARLENE O’CONNELL AND THE DIXIE FLYERS : Not Looking Back : This local country-Western band is on its way to the big time, with superb dance music and entertainment.

The adage, “You get what you pay for,” usually proves true. But not so with the new six-piece country-Western band Darlene O’Connell and the Dixie Flyers.

The Canyon Country-based group, featuring a female lead vocalist and a hot Southern fiddler, will be steaming through Cheers, Simi Valley’s newest country-Western venue, Wednesday nights through December. Hearing only one of the band’s tunes would be worth the $3 cover charge.

For country-Western lovers, this is a must-see. An evening with this group of musicians satisfies and leaves you wanting more at the same time. It’s a superb dance band that presents a top-notch country-Western concert.

A few words of caution, however. Don’t arrive late. You might miss Tom Ricardo’s show-stopping table-top fiddle number, “The South’s Gonna Do It Again,” which ends the band’s first set. But that’s just one highlight of what, hands down, is the best dance music and entertainment on the local country-Western club circuit.

“They are not just a bar band,” K-HAY radio deejay Charlye Parker told the Cheers audience last week. “They have some good projects in the works that include opening soon for acts at the Ventura Concert Theatre.”

Later that evening, Parker elaborated. “The band has a good, solid drummer. That is great for two-steps and the crowd appreciates it,” she said. “What I see in Darlene and the band is their ability to combine the individuality of each member into a total personality that can stand by itself, and has its own sound. And what I hear is sometimes hard-core country, country-rock with a rhythm-and-blues sound and really strong vocals from Darlene.”

Since Darlene O’Connell and the Dixie Flyers pulled into town in August, they have developed a following through frequent gigs at Maxie’s in Oak View, Santa Barbara’s Red Dog Saloon and the Galleon Room in Goleta.

On home turf, the band also plays in rotation at the Calico Saloon in Lancaster, where they recently videotaped a guest appearance on the cable television show “Country Now at the Calico Saloon.”

The group’s fresh, upbeat show offers plenty of requisite specialty dances as well as current hits. The versatile alto voice of lead singer O’Connell works equally well on the “Tennessee Waltz” or a sultry “Black Velvet.” And her raucous rendition of the Jerry Lee Lewis anthem, “Great Balls of Fire,” brings down the house.

Throughout the show, each group member contributes vocals. Each band member also gets the chance to spotlight his or her talents. Virginia-raised Ricardo, who also plays keyboard and acoustic guitar, shines during another Charlie Daniels fiddle hit, “The Devil Went Down to Georgia.”

“Tom on fiddle brings the fun-loving spirit of the band together,” Parker said. “I like that we have both a hot country picker (Gary Rudolf) and a hot rock player (Jimmy Waldrop),” said bassist Eric Stewart, who does vocals on “Mirror, Mirror.”

Watch for Rudolf’s crowd-pleasing swing-boogie composition, “Always Somebody’s Girl.” And Waldrop’s vocals, including “Dumas Walker.”

The story behind the band’s formation just eight months ago sounds like the plot of a Doris Day movie. A self-described “typical Southern country girl from Dyersburg, Tenn.,” O’Connell, 34, claims little formal training except for “always singing in the church and school choirs.”

Her aspiration was to be a good wife and mother to her two daughters, ages 6 and 10. “I did Girl Scouts and PTA until this year. But now I have a job, and the girls love my new job.”

An encounter with karaoke while vacationing in Hawaii two years ago motivated her to enter local contests, which she won. “Then I hooked up with some friends in a band, Kent Grey and the Overland Express. Every time my husband and I went to see them perform, they kept inviting me on stage to sing. After I’d sing, bar owners would try to book me,” O’Connell recalled. “But there was nothing to book.”

Enter five musicians and Glenn, O’Connell’s husband of 16 years who became the group’s backbone as manager and booking agent.

“I think her professionalism and Glenn’s keen business sense is what helped catapult us so quickly,” Ricardo said. “She pays very close attention to the sets so there is a wide variety of dances. Darlene’s also very conscious of image and feels if you look good, you perform well.”

It was Glenn’s idea to name the band after an old Southern steam engine. “I heard it in a song by Travis Tritt: ‘Our life is like a Dixie Flyer. She don’t ever look back,’ ” Glenn O’Connell said. “I thought that was appropriate for the band.

“We’re full steam ahead and not looking back.”

* WHERE AND WHEN

Darlene O’Connell and the Dixie Flyers will play at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, as well as Dec. 23 and 30 at Cheers, 1308 Los Angeles Ave., Simi Valley, 581-2488. Free dance lessons 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. $3 cover charge after 8 p.m. Other local appearances: Dec. 31, Jan. 1 and 2 at the Red Dog Saloon in Santa Barbara, Jan. 15 at Maxie’s in Oak View, and Jan. 21 to 23, Galleon Room in Goleta. For information on club dates or to receive the band’s newsletter, call the hot line 1-(800) 773-4943.