A Range of Influences, but Band Is True Blue

Blue by Nature, playing Monday at B.B. King’s, is a rock band made up of music-business veterans who draw upon many different influences to create their blues-oriented sound.

The band was formed in 1993 by singer-songwriter Karen Lawrence, former Aerosmith guitarist Rick Dufay and guitarist Fred Hostetler. They soon added Charlie Diaz on bass and Dan Potruch on drums.

The band’s first CD, “Blue to the Bone,” on the Shattered Music label, was produced by Jack Douglas, who previously produced albums for John Lennon, Aerosmith, Cheap Trick and others.

Lawrence says the majority of the group’s songs are classic 12-bar blues. “That’s the [chord] progression that goes on in my head,” Lawrence says. “I could play 12-bar blues all day long.”

But the blues is not the only kind of music she’s listened to throughout her career. Some of her favorites include the gospel of the Staple Singers, the soul of Chaka Khan and James Brown, and the rock of Jimi Hendrix.

“I liked a lot of soul stuff--good voices, good rhythm, good phrasing--people who get a little excited,” she says, adding that she’s been influenced by just about “anything that ever was.”

Lawrence mentioned she had just bought a CD reissue of Bob Dylan’s 30-year-old classic “Blonde on Blonde” and was listening to his blues number “Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat.”

“I’m kinda like a sponge,” Lawrence says. “If I like it and I can do it, I’m taking it.”

Lawrence says the band is currently trying to expand its horizons, with short trips to gigs in San Francisco and San Diego. These mini-tours are decidedly low key, Lawrence says. She just wants to keep the band together and steer clear of the business end of the music business.

“We’re musicians,” Lawrence says. “I suppose it makes me sound like some lazy artistic amoeba, but we’ve all been through this before. This time it’s more fun.”

* Blue by Nature plays Monday night at B. B. King’s Blues Club, Universal CityWalk, 1000 Universal Center Drive. $6 cover. Call (818) 622-5464.

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Conscious Rock: On first listening to Cindy Alter sing, one might be inclined to think she spent a lot of time with Bob Dylan and Joan Baez records. Her melodic lines and introspective lyrics suggest roots deep in the “city” folk music scene of the 1960s.

But this South African singer-songwriter, who’s performing Saturday at Bourbon Square, is no ex-folkie. “I grew up on heavy rock,” Alter says. “Groups like Uriah Heep and Jethro Tull.” She describes the music she plays today as “conscious rock.”

“My lyrics deal with relationships and the way of the world,” she says. “Not too sweet, not sugary--not trying to make things look pretty.”

After working in her native South Africa and other places around the globe, Alter arrived in Los Angeles five years ago to continue her musical pursuits.

“I had spent a lot of time in England, I’d seen Europe,” Alter says. “I decided before I got too damned old I wanted to go to America.”

In Los Angeles, she has worked with Trevor Rabin, formerly of Yes, on a recording project. Currently she’s at work on a CD of her own material with the working title “Unicorns and Tequila.”

* Cindy Alter performs Saturday night at Bourbon Square, 15324 Victory Blvd., Van Nuys. $6 cover. Call (818) 997-8562.

Blues Underground: These guys were the Friday night regulars at Harvelle’s in Santa Monica for more than a year. They’ve played at the House of Blues and B.B. King’s. In June, they’re slated to perform at the Los Angeles Blues Festival. The band is Blues Underground and Saturday they’re playing at Cozy’s, the new kid on the Valley blues-club block.

Playing in the Valley is as close as these guys are going to get to going on the road. They all have day jobs and can’t leave town--but guitarist Dan Bachar doesn’t think that’s a bad thing.

“We’re doing real well here in L.A. We manage to get good jobs at the better places,” he says. “That’s the thing that keeps us together.”

* Blues Underground plays Friday night at Cozy’s Bar & Grill, 14058 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks. $6 cover. Call (818) 986-6000.