Of Honky Tonk Heroes : David Ball takes his cue from country’s hard-core and ‘50s dance halls--unlike most of today’s young country stars.

David Ball was the most celebrated new arrival in country music of 1994--and his surprising success should be inspiration to hundreds of singers who have toiled away for years in honky-tonks and clubs.

One reason Ball’s success--which included a gold album and a Grammy nomination--is surprising is his age.

At 39, he’s dangerously close to the wrong side of the dividing line between the battery of young stars that country radio has embraced and the older crop that has been gradually phased out of playlists.

Ball’s music, too, salutes country’s hard-core, ‘50s honky-tonk and ballroom influences--from Webb Pierce to Bob Wills--at a time when most newcomers are as apt to cite pop and rock heroes as the old cornerstones.

No one was more caught off guard by his dramatic breakthrough than Ball himself, whose fondness for wry wordplay and country dance floor bounce is summarized in the single “Thinkin’ Problem,” which won him a Grammy nomination for best male country vocal.

The song, which Ball co-wrote, uses the familiar barroom imagery of drinking songs to express lingering heartache: Yes, I admit / I’ve got a thinkin’ problem. / She’s always on my mind / Her memory goes round and round / I’ve tried to quit a thousand times.

From the authenticity of his country sound on the “Thinkin’ Problem” album, you’d think Ball was raised on a musical diet of strict country. But the South Carolina native was exposed equally to folk and R&B; as well as a youngster--and it wasn’t until he moved to Texas in his late teens that he really got his country education.

After a dozen years in Austin and Houston, he began setting his sights in the mid-’80s on Nashville, but it was a long, slow struggle to get his vision on record. Most executives were skeptical about his hard-core country approach in the age of smooth, country-pop crossover recordings. But “Thinkin’ Problem” eventually proved an immediate hit.

Now that he has momentum, don’t look for Ball to try to sweeten his sound in hopes of following other Nashville artists in pursuit of sales and airplay. As he begins thinking about his follow-up album, he vows to stick to the music he knows best.

Question: Were you worried as coun try music radio began turning to new, young faces in the late ‘80s that there might not be a place for you?

Answer: I don’t know. I’ve always be lieved that there’s a place for good music regardless of what seems to be a trend at a given time. So I figured I would be OK as long as I came up with something that worked on the radio, yet would still be me . That was the thing I was most concerned about: not letting my music be changed into something else.

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Q: The biggest challenge is probably getting heard at all, given all the new artists being signed in Nashville. What was it like trying to get radio stations to play your album?

A: We must have gone to 100 stations trying to stir up interest, all the way from the Carolinas to California. Some people we met were real receptive, but others would just look at you real sarcastically and go, ‘Well, it’s another new guy.” But I could see where they were coming from because they are being flooded these days with newcomers.

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Q: What about your sound? A lot of program directors might have been tempted to dismiss “Thinkin’ Problem” as old-time country.

A: That’s the sound I love . . . the ‘50s country, . . . people like Webb Pierce, the early George Jones. . . . A lot of the stuff I heard after we started playing in clubs in Texas. I think one thing that helped us a lot in getting the record on the radio was that listeners reacted real strongly to it.

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Q: What about your early musical interests?

A: I listened to a combination of stuff when I was a kid. . . . Whatever was on the radio or what you’d hear at a friend’s house, which included a lot of R&B; and folk music. I was in this band during high school and we eventually got on the folk circuit and that’s what took us to Texas.

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Q: What was the scene like in Texas?

A: You could walk into any dance hall out there and there would be an eight- or nine-piece band on stage. Bob Wills was the big influence. All the bands knew things like “Faded Love” and “San Antonio Rose.” At the same time, they would be playing a lot of just plain hard-country stuff.

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Q: What started you on the trail to Nashville?

A: I heard Randy Travis’ “On the Other Hand” (in 1985) and I thought, “That’s what I really want to do.” It made me think there was a place for me in Nashville. By that time, I had already moved back to Carolina and had begun concentrating on writing songs because that’s really the heart of country music.

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Q: What makes a song like “On the Other Hand” work for you?

A: With that song, I just thought it was clever and very emotional. Generally, the key to me in a good song is that it keeps it moving in one direction, . . . keeps it simple. A lot of beginning songwriters will have what they think is a great song, but actually it is about four different songs. You have to (focus) on one point and let it unfold.

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Q: How did you start making inroads in Nashville?

A: I sent tapes to a friend who was a booking agent, and RCA got kind of interested around 1988. We made an album, but it was a pretty frustrating experience. Some of the stuff was pretty good, but for the most part, the record didn’t capture what I was about. I think I made a mistake in being a little too open to other people’s directions and suggestions. I kinda (resolved) to make the record I wanted to make next time.

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Q: Is that what happened at Warner Bros.?

A: Yes, I went back home and wrote some more songs, including “Thinkin’ Problem” and “Honky-Tonk Healing,” and we put them down on tape and started passing them around again. Sony was interested for a while, but nothing happened.

So, there was this little club I’d stop by sometimes around 6 in the evening and play guitar and sing while some friends played pool. A couple of guys from Warners were in there one night and they got real interested. We went in and did the album--just boom! With this record, I put down just what I wanted: a dance hall record.

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Q: What about the next album? Any temptation to move more in a pop direction?

A: Naw, I don’t foresee any change. What you hear on the album is the music I love. There are a lot of different directions people are taking these days in country music. But it’s not like I’m sitting back trying to pick one. As far as I’m concerned I’ll always be a dance hall guy.

* Times Line: 808-8463. To hear an excerpt from David Ball’s album “Thinking Problems,” call TimesLine and press * 5710.

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