Straight Shooters

The spirit of innovation in mainstream country music has been down so long that a good ol,’ straight-down-the-middle bar band such as Big House can look as if it’s up to something fresh and different.

The band of six regular- to slightly seedy-looking guys from Bakersfield has a debut album just out, and a single, “Cold Outside,” on the country charts.

The sweaty-but-unforced effort, accomplished-but-freewheeling musicianship and unpretentious spirit of Big House’s show Tuesday night at the Crazy Horse Steak House provided a welcome break from the slick and processed approach that has dominated the country mainstream in the ‘90s.

Big House’s antidote to the scrubbed Adonis-in-a-hat formula is, it turns out, another formula. But when that formula calls for equal parts country twang, rock ‘n’ roll drive and R&B; funkiness and soul, as Big House’s take on the bar-band tradition does, it’s better described as a cherished old family recipe.

Catchy tunes and motivating beats were the rule during an 85-minute set that included all but one of the songs from the album, “Big House,” plus several unreleased band originals. An opening Hank Williams lament, “No Teardrops Tonight,” established some honky-tonk credentials before going up-tempo to serve as a showcase for the considerable skills of the band’s four instrumental soloists--guitarists Marty Byrom, David Neuhauser and Chuck Seaton, and harmonica player Sonny California.

Overall, the show’s catchy choruses, energy and instrumental flair helped compensate for songwriting that was appealing on the surface but--the glass ceiling of many a good bar band--not particularly imaginative. Lead singer Byrom sang well throughout but only fleetingly managed to turn a song into a scene from life. More vivid material could lift Big House to a level above accomplished bar band, and that’s its challenge.

It met the challenge once, on “Amarillo,” a fine, nervously smoldering song from the album. It rode a tense groove a la Marvin Gaye’s rendition of “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” while capturing the doubts and fears of a relationship in crisis. The song’s indelible chorus played to Byrom’s greatest vocal strength--a piercing, full-toned high range ideal for persuasive pleading, and his flights were supported by excellent backing vocals.

Big House was in its element with assured Southern-rock workouts that called to mind the Georgia Satellites, Waylon Jennings and Lynyrd Skynyrd without being quite so wild and brawny. “Soul Country,” with its nods to Van Morrison-style R&B; (complete with “sha la la” refrain), found Byrom executing a 360-degree whirl a la James Brown--not bad for a big guy.

On album, Big House gains a bit of distinctiveness with a clean, mainly acoustic sound. Live, like most bar bands, it was a lot less circumspect, but never messy.

The sound was fullest and most varied when Neuhauser played a moaning, sassy amplified acoustic slide guitar. California, whose leather beret topped a mug that only a mother could love (signaling that this home-grown band of old buddies surely wasn’t put together from central casting), had a light, sprightly tone on harmonica. His sunny, lyrically whistling tone on harp became a bit predictable; some old-fashioned blues grit would have gone down well.

Big House wasn’t immune to contemporary country formula--”Sunday in Memphis,” lustily cheered by the audience, was just another wistful and mellow rehash of the Eagles, circa “Tequila Sunrise.” But that was the exception on this night of bar-band playfulness and spunk.