POP MUSIC REVIEW : Collie Doesn’t Idol Away His Time Onstage : There Are References to Elvis and Cash, but It’s the Power of His Sound That Really Moves His Audience

If Elvis was in town Tuesday, he probably stopped by the main post office to pick up a roll of his commemorative stamps, grabbed a bite at the Burger King and then dropped into the Rhythm Cafe to catch Mark Collie’s show. No doubt the King was amused by all the sly references to himself and to his old Sun Records labelmate, Johnny Cash, that Collie worked into his 90-minute show.

The first song of the set, “She’s Never Coming Back,” turned on the key phrase “Like the king of rock and roll/She’s never coming back.” Elvis probably got a good laugh out of that one. On all of his numbers, Collie waved his guitar around and moved sensually to the rhythm in a subdued version of Elvis’ trademark hip swinging. Collie’s original songs were powered by the kind of rockabilly beat that Presley pioneered more than a quarter-century ago, and on a few songs, such as “Keep It Up” from his new album (“Mark Collie”), he dropped his voice in that sexy way that Elvis made famous.

Collie’s tribute to Cash was even more overt than his references to Presley. Early in the set he announced that “Trouble’s Coming Like a Train,” on the new album, was written as a tribute to Cash, who is known for his train songs. Later in the show, Collie did a slow, slinky version of Cash’s “Ring of Fire.”

Collie also dressed entirely in black, but--in contrast to Cash’s trademark black suits--wore a leather jacket, T-shirt and jeans.

For all his nods to his idols, though, Collie is also very much his own man. As Presley and Cash did, Collie combines a wide assortment of styles into his own unique sound. Collie’s song “Hillbilly Boy With the Rock ‘n’ Roll Blues” alludes to the original Southern hillbillies, such as Presley and Cash, who revolutionized popular music by marrying hillbilly twang to a blues beat. Collie builds on that rockabilly foundation by adding bits and pieces of other styles from Nashville country corn to Southern boogie blues.

Not surprisingly, Collie’s five-piece backing band, Dog, owed more to modern rock than it did to either early rockabilly or country. With the whining electric guitars of Brian Franklin and Lance Dary and the electric keyboards of Hassell Teekell, Dog cranked out a hard rocking accompaniment to Collie’s twangy vocals. Dary’s blues-inflected guitar solos had more in common with such rock/blues giants as Duane Allman and Stevie Ray Vaughan than they did with either Scotty Moore, Presley’s original guitarist, or Luther Perkins, Cash’s most famous axesmith. Even Collie’s version of “Ring of Fire” was delivered with only a hint of Perkins’ trademark chunky beat.

Collie’s 18-song set included nine selections from the new album, released this month, but only two songs, “Let Her Go” and “Deliver Me,” from his 1990 debut “Hardin County Line.” And he did only one song, the hit “She’s Never Coming Back,” from his second album, “Born and Raised in Black and White.”

It’s a shame that he didn’t include more from his earlier records because those albums contain some of Collie’s sharpest and most richly detailed songs. With the exception of his recent smash hit, “Even the Man in the Moon Is Crying,” Collie’s new songs tend to be less complex lyrically than his earlier material.

Though he limited his conversation to brief song introductions, Collie easily won over the crowd with the power of his music, which built as the set progressed. By the time he got to his version of the oft-covered Bobby Fuller Four classic “I Fought the Law,” he had coaxed many of the fans down to the front of the stage and was leading them in a joyous sing-along. Collie followed that with a powerful bluesy rendition of Dylan’s “Knocking on Heaven’s Door,” another overdone number that he managed to make fresh.

The set ended with what may have been the rockingest version ever done of Rodney Crowell’s “Ain’t Living Long Like This.”

Opening act Jody Seigel, who has played a number of local clubs as half of the duo Brady and Seigel, was playing her first gig as a solo artist.

With her commanding stage presence and terrific original songs, Seigel, who may be cut from the same mold as Bonnie Raitt, should have no trouble making it on her own. Her original songs (especially “Legal Tender,” “Little Devil” and “Wild Women Don’t Get the Blues”) were strong enough to grab first-time listeners and her bluesy lead guitar playing, including her use of a slide on several numbers, added powerful lowdown counterpoint to her vocals.