Faith in the Music : * Country singer Geary Hanley says fans now enthralled by hit records will again flock to live gigs.

Local country singers are finding some irony on the club scene these days. That’s because while the likes of Garth Brooks and Billy Ray Cyrus are taking the genre to a massive new pop audience, those still toiling at the local level are finding clubs more interested in spinning the newest hit records than they are in booking live musicians.

It’s enough to give any fiddler or pedal-steel player an achy-breaky heart. “Back in the ‘Urban Cowboy’ days it was the same thing,” says singer-guitarist Geary Hanley, reminiscing about that early-’80s country craze, without a hint of bitterness or worry.

Hanley has been playing this circuit, in clubs across Los Angeles, the San Fernando Valley and beyond, for more than 20 years. He has faith that the fans and gigs will return as they have before.

“I think they’ll want to go back to listening to live music more,” Hanley says. “They’ll get bored with the songs that the deejays play day after day. You can hear those on the radio. With a band there is more versatility.”

The country music veteran will test that theory tonight when he brings his Geary Hanley Band to the Country Club in Reseda, where the quintet will be the first act in a long series of country shows at the venue. Hanley will perform his usual mix of originals, country music chestnuts by Merle Haggard and George Jones, and newer hits by Travis Tritt, Alan Jackson and others.

“He’s got a great voice and great stage presence,” says Marilyn Crispen, who booked Hanley at the now-defunct Longhorn Saloon for several years, before bringing him to the Country Club for a night of the two-step, country waltzes and line-dancing. “He’s got a deep voice, kind of like a Merle Haggard, very strong.”

Like his longtime musical idol Haggard, Hanley was born in Oklahoma. He left the small farm community of his youth in 1969 to join the Marines, when he was assigned to Camp Pendleton and first sampled the Southern California country music scene. Hanley ultimately decided to settle in Thousand Oaks and pursue a music career on the West Coast.

“My dad encouraged me when I explained to him that was what I wanted to do,” says Hanley, now 46 and with a wife and 15-year-old daughter of his own. “That was really great.

“He knew that I really wanted to do this particular thing. I knew that I couldn’t pursue it much in Oklahoma. There weren’t that many places to play.”

Since then, Hanley released two albums in the mid-’80s on the Nashville-based independent Kansa Records label and watched five of his singles reach the Cashbox country top 100. During some of those years, Hanley performed as part of singer-actor John Schneider’s touring band, back when the former “Dukes of Hazzard” star was playing such hits as “Country Girls” and “I’ve Been Around Enough to Know.”

Hanley says he enjoyed that experience, but isn’t anxious to join the band of another national touring artist. “I’m not too interested in doing that anymore unless it’s my own deal,” he says. “The road can be long and hard. If I’m out there pushing my own stuff, it’s a different story.”

While he does spend a lot of his stage time playing the music of other artists, he often squeezes at least three originals into each of his usual two or three 45-minute sets. Among those would be “Guitar Picker from the Lonely Side of Town” and “The Pride of Texas.” He’s also just signed a deal with the Los Angeles-based Ten Squared Records to record a new 12-song CD.

“No Okie songs, though,” Hanley says with a laugh. “I haven’t written any. I don’t know why.”

WHERE AND WHEN

Who: Geary Hanley Band, with special guests.

Location: The Country Club, 18415 Sherman Way, Reseda.

Hours: 8 tonight.

Price: Ticket prices undetermined at press time, but free admission is offered to those who bring an item of Western memorabilia (wagon wheel, rodeo buckle, etc.) to decorate the club.

Call: (818) 881-5601.