Charlie Sexton Writes Wrongs of Childhood : Pop music: Eschewing blues, a prodigy grown up channels a dark past through his songs rather than wallowing in pity.

There almost always seems to be an aura of tragedy or disappointment surrounding the child star grown to adulthood. Frankie Lymon’s drug addiction and early death, the fabled paranoia of a Michael Jackson or a Bobby Fischer, the soap opera life of Drew Barrymore.

Credit Charlie Sexton, who performs tonight at the Coach House, with refusing to buy into the legacy. A musical child prodigy who virtually grew up in the blues clubs of Austin, Tex., Sexton lived a troubled early life with a dysfunctional family. He was hailed a decade ago as the next guitar god, a successor to Stevie Ray Vaughan who would turn the blues scene on its ear.

That never came to be, but it wasn’t because Sexton, now 26, lacked the goods to back the hype. It didn’t happen because Sexton didn’t want it to happen. And, as an adult, he’s exorcising childhood demons through his art, rather than wallowing in the past.

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Confounding all predictions, Sexton made his solo recording debut in 1985 with “Pictures for Pleasure,” a Billy Idol-ish pop album that featured Sexton on the cover with a face full of makeup and a new-wave hairdo. Austin was horrified, but no matter--at age 16, Sexton chose not to adhere to the preordained script.

“I’ve done everything in my power since my first record to get away from that [blues thing],” said Sexton in a recent phone interview. “That’s probably the reason my first record sounded the way it did. Everyone had these expectations of what they thought I was supposed to be. All the bands that played in Austin were blues bands.

“Basically, what it boils down to is, I’ll put on a Howlin’ Wolf record, and it’s like, ‘That’s the [goods]!’ When you’ve got guys like that, and then you’ve got some white guy from [the suburbs], it’s not even anywhere close, you know? It’s so funny. After all these years, when the people that made the music died poor and never saw a penny from the stuff they did, now you have $80,000 BMWs cruising down the street cranking out blues. It’s funny. You know, ‘Oh Julie, this blues music is moving!’ ”

While Sexton eschewed the siren call of the Austin scene, effectively offending its legion of blues purists, he never caught on as a pop star, either. A second solo album in 1989 went nowhere. As a member of Austin roots-music stalwarts Arc Angels from 1992-94, he seemed to be biding his time.

But earlier this year, Sexton emerged as a mature and unique talent, a singer-songwriter-guitarist possessed of a literate storytelling ability and deeply expressive voice to complement his considerable skill as a musician. “Under the Wishing Tree” by the Charlie Sexton Sextet owes more to such artists as Tom Waits, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Daniel Lanois and U2 than it does to Stevie Ray Vaughan or Billy Idol.

It’s a bleak album, a largely autobiographical project that chronicles Sexton’s childhood traumas with an untamed father and a teen-age mother later abused by a live-in boyfriend. But the songs never sink into the realm of whining self-pity.

Sexton uses detailed imagery and universal emotion to get his songs over. He tells his stories with compelling lyrics and moody, ethereal song structures rather than the white noise and primal screaming favored by most rock musicians. And though his bountiful talents as a guitarist are manifest throughout the album, he uses them as a tool to help paint a picture rather than as a platform for showy licks. “Under the Wishing Tree” is as intelligent and impressive an album as is likely to be released this year.

“I guess the way to explain where the lyrics are coming from is that I grew up in a dark kind of existence,” Sexton said. “I try to state the facts and tell the story without too much animosity or feeling sorry for myself. The album deals with the dark a lot, but I think that exists, and I just find it. You get a lot deeper into the meaning of things that way than if you’re going, ‘Oh happy, happy day.’ That element has always been in my songs, but I guess with the level of writing in my previous works, it didn’t come across.”

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Curiously, Sexton’s sextet is really a quartet, made up of Michael Ramos on keyboards and drummer Rafael Gayol, both formerly of the BoDeans, and bassist George Reiff, formerly of Joe (King) Carrasco and the Crowns. On tour, the group is augmented by violinist Susan Voelz.

Sexton remains gifted and charismatic, with movie-star good looks and a burgeoning vision of what and who he is as an artist. He won’t become the blues guitar hero that his hometown wanted or the pop star he tried to be as a teen-ager. It will be interesting to watch his career develop from this point. Whatever happens, Sexton is determined to remain true to himself.

“If you’re an alcoholic, you write about that,” he said. “If you’re a junkie, you write about being a junkie. My life gave me a non-American Dream kind of album to make. Everyone is affected by their surroundings, and I’m no different.”

* The Charlie Sexton Sextet, Mary Karlzen and Hopescope perform tonight at the Coach House, 33157 Camino Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano. 8 p.m. $18.50. (714) 496-8930.