A Night of Splendid ‘Dreams’

Ratings range from * (poor) to **** (excellent). Three stars denote a solid recommendation.

****

Chris Gaffney

“Man of Somebody’s Dreams”

Red Moon

The bad news about this splendid live album is that it’s on a Swiss label, which means getting a copy will take some doing. The good news is that while the Europeans only get to see Gaffney once or twice a year, you can see him for free any Wednesday night at the Canyon Inn in Yorba Linda (where the maestro may have a few copies to sell, for a limited time only).

This performance, recorded in April in Zurich, was special--Gaffney’s first concert for an overseas audience, on a festival bill far removed from the constant round of barroom gigs on the Southern California country and roots-music circuit that has been his lot since the 1970s.

Gaffney--a Costa Mesa resident who is all too well-acquainted with the life of the musical small-timer he plays in the song “Six Nights a Week”--made the most of his sudden transformation into an international figure: Backed by his regular guitar sidekick Danny Ott and by touring partner Jann Browne’s band the Dangerous Neighbors, he delivered a show worthy of any true country hero, and beyond what we’re apt to hear from the new wave of slick, shallow pretenders.

A concert of that caliber has to be founded on great material, and as one of the best songwriters in Southern California, Gaffney entered his big night well-equipped. The 13-song set mines gems from his two unerring albums, “Chris Gaffney & the Cold Hard Facts” (good luck finding this 1990 outing for ROM Records) and “Mi Vida Loca” (a 1992 Hightone release that should be obtainable, if not readily so).

Gaffney tosses in two previously unrecorded originals, a Tex-Mex instrumental polka and a honky-tonk waltz; he also covers a Buddy Guy slow blues (with Ott taking over as singer and bandleader) and a whimsical Mel Tillis oldie, “Honky Tonk.”

Tackling their stylistically omnivorous program, Gaffney and band are almost never less than vibrant, and the performances are captured in a recording of the highest clarity and presence. Ott, a marvelous player, has more delicious tones and shadings at his disposal than a gambling cheat has face cards; on “ ‘68,” his sizzling, Chuck Berry-based soloing simultaneously rings like a bell and tears like a saw.

Matt Barnes is nominally the second guitarist, but he makes every turn in the spotlight sound like an argument for a promotion. Dennis Caplinger’s fiddling is a sweet, invigorating breeze; like Barnes, this brilliant jack-of-all-strings was a major force on Jann Browne’s extraordinary Red Moon album, “Count Me In.”

Gaffney lays on a zesty Tex-Mex button accordion (his squeeze box doubles as a substitute blues organ on the Buddy Guy number), and the rhythm section is keyed by a hot yet disciplined drummer, Arturo Gonzales Perez. Remarkably, this was the first concert this assemblage of musicians ever had played together. Gaffney’s burry, laconic voice is in fine form; he sings with characteristic understatement, yet with savvy turns and intensities that do justice to the carnival of experience acted out in his songs.

There are some small flaws. “ ‘68,” the hard-rocking Vietnam war-buddies epic that may be Gaffney’s finest song (Dave Alvin was the co-writer), doesn’t have quite as much heat and heft as the studio version on “Mi Vida Loca.” And the previously unheard lovelorn waltz “Man of Somebody’s Dreams” is quite catchy, but by Gaffney’s standards it’s of middlin’ quality, lacking the sense of surprise and the captured-moment distillation of emotional life that marks his top stuff.

Some highlights? It’s hard to think of a song more exuberant than “Psychotic Girlfriend,” a delicious, whirling blend of ‘50s doo-wop and Chicano rock that musically embodies the refrain “All I can say is it’s such a wild weekend / All I can say is it’s such a wild world.” And when Gaffney wants to ache, as he does on the luminous “Waltz for Minnie,” he aches with the best. Without peeking at the credits, one easily might wonder which old-line country hero it was who first did the fetching, classic-sounding honky-tonk tune “If I Had a Dream.” Ray Price? George Jones? The old Buckaroo? Nope: It’s yet another winsome one from the Gaffer.

(Available from Red Moon Records, c/o Jurg Schapper, Burgerauerstrasse 22, 9470 Buchs, Switzerland. Tel: 011-41-81-756-3965; Fax: 011-41-81-756-7134.)

* Chris Gaffney plays Wednesdays at 8:30 p.m. at the Canyon Inn, 6821 Fairlynn Blvd., Yorba Linda. Free. (714) 779-0880.

Hear Chris Gaffney

* To hear a sample of the album “Man of Somebody’s Dreams,” call TimesLine at 808-8463 and press *5570.

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