Starting Again, Solo : Santa Barbara singer is back with guitar and ‘90s-style folk sound, in search of a following.

Wendy Bucklew, with big hair and an even bigger voice, will bring her low-budget acoustic music act to a pair of local venues this weekend. Friday night she’ll be at the Daily Grind in Ventura, and Saturday night, it’s Local Hero in Ojai. Don’t expect a mosh pit or a lot of decibels at either gig.

Originally from Santa Barbara, Bucklew headed for Florida to go to school, came back to California for more schooling, and ended up in Atlanta where she had a real job until she woke up.

“I moved back to Atlanta and did the pumps and pearls thing by day in advertising,” said Bucklew during a recent interview. “At night, I’d slip into something more comfy, and I started making more money playing music and it was a lot more fun. I really hate advertising.”

Bucklew was in the right place at the right time when the acoustic music scene in Atlanta took off. She met all the local luminaries, ended up touring with the Indigo Girls, and became something of a local rock goddess in her own right.

“I got there just about at the beginning in ’87 or ‘88, and it was very happening. I met the Indigo Girls and a lot of others, but what was really cool was the seriousness of it all. They cared about the quality of the music, plus there was strong support for each other. There’s definitely a different flavor in the South. They sing about the same things, but there’s sort of a groove to it, sort of a Black Crowes sort of thing.”

Bucklew recorded three albums and did an original painting for the cover of each, but now she’s back to square one in Ventura (where the surf is a lot better than in Atlanta), trying to get things going.

“After a while, I started to get lazy. I was guaranteed a very good support group--I have a problem with the word ‘fans’--but I had a lot of fans. I’d just figure out how much I needed to make my rent, then just do that. Since I moved back to California about seven months ago, it’s like starting all over again. I’m just trying to build a following and get my foot in the door. I’ve been playing a lot of free gigs, but it’s exposure, you know?”

Her latest CD album is “Asleep in the Swing.” Bucklew intends to market it the usual way, without MTV, but by playing incessantly.

“Actually, we’re starting to get some interest on it, and I’m trying to get it released nationally. I think it’s more sophisticated than the other albums. I’m not going to put Vaseline on my lips and stand pigeon-toed in a bathroom stall on MTV. No way I’m ever going to do that.”

Bucklew had a band before and intends to have one again, but, for now, she remains the girl with a guitar, traveling light.

“It’s just acoustic rock, I guess. It doesn’t really matter what you call it--if they like it, they like it. In Atlanta, we started calling it acoustic music because it’s not folk music like Peter, Paul & Mary. It’s ‘90s folk, I guess. If you’re a girl with a guitar, you seem to get those Joni Mitchell references, which doesn’t hurt at all because I think she’s fabulous.”

Since few acoustic musicians inspire dancing or drinking among the patrons, they generally end up doing the Jangle Tour--playing coffeehouses. Those venues are quieter than bars, and people are less likely to puke on your shoes or beat you up for no apparent reason, apart from basic brew-tality.

“It’s up and down; it’s a roller coaster. Sometimes the people are really receptive, and it’s really inspiring, and, other times, it’s totally dead. It’s hard.”

Bucklew writes mostly the Serious Girl type of songs, relationship songs, getting out of relationship songs, and the like. Although, she probably wouldn’t scare Dio, Bucklew’s voice is so powerful, she would be compelling singing the phone book.

“When I write a song, it’s different every time. It starts with a mood. Then I just jam on the guitar; sometimes it’s a melody, sometimes it’s a lyric or vice versa. But it always starts with a mood. That or an ‘E’ chord--that always does it for me.”

The creative process sometimes stands in jarring juxtaposition with the gritty world of performing. As Bucklew recalled: “I was playing in a bar in Augusta, Ga., that was the No. 1 seller of Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer in the country. When I got to the place, there was a big banner that said ‘Wendy Bucklew & Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer.’

Anyway, I played and they had this contest to guess how many Pabsts they had sold during the month, or in November, or whatever. The winner got a Greyhound bus ride to Milwaukee, where he stayed with the bartender’s uncle and got a tour of the Pabst factory.”

Though she has serenaded beer guzzlers, toured with the Indigo Girls and played to groups of four people in a coffeehouse, Bucklew got started in the usual way.

“My mom took classical guitar lessons, but she put it down and I picked it up. I just loved the sound of the guitar. It was more of a teen angst escape thing. It was good therapy, but I didn’t pose in front of the mirror or anything like that. I always thought I was going to end up in the advertising business. My friends inspired me, saying stuff like, ‘Hey, play that song again.’ Gradually, I started singing above a whisper and got a bit more confident. Now I’ve got to take this seriously.”

Then again, nothing is more serious than baseball, where 28 out of 30 teams and a zillion fans are now watching the World Series. While in the South, Bucklew didn’t gain an accent, but she did gain a team, the Braves, who at least made the playoffs but were eliminated by the Marlins.

“I’m still trying to recover. I’m very, very, very sad about the Braves, but I guess you can’t win ‘em all. I was never into baseball at all until I moved to Atlanta, where I was turned on to the Braves.

“Before, I thought it was really boring, until I started learning the history of each player. Then I found myself yelling ‘You’re laggin’, Justice!’ I didn’t even care when they traded him to Cleveland. He was really cute, but he knew it, too.”

BE THERE

Wendy Bucklew at the Daily Grind, 607 E. Main St., Ventura, Friday at 9 p.m. (805) 641-1679. And at Local Hero, 254 E. Ojai Ave., Ojai, Saturday at 8 p.m. (805) 646-3165.