‘Sweet’ Transition : Despite Lackluster Sales, Maria McKee Is Thrilled With Her Shift to Alternative Rock

Two years ago, celebrated roots-rock singer Maria McKee startled her longtime followers when she put out a biting, alternative-rock album, “Life Is Sweet.”

The Bowie-esque project featured not only abrasive guitars but also some songs with complicated, art rock-type arrangements--a stark departure from the traditional folk and country-rock music that had made her a critical darling and cult favorite in the ‘80s as the leader of Lone Justice and later as a solo act.

“Shock! Horror!” is how McKee laughingly says some responded to her metamorphosis on “Life Is Sweet.”

And that wasn’t just fans. Her record label, Geffen, initially was reluctant to release the album because of the dramatic shift it represented. When Geffen did release it, it did so with little fanfare.

McKee, however, remains unabashedly proud of it, despite its lackluster sales. “I love it. It’s like the high point of my career,” she said in a recent phone interview.

When she performs Wednesday at the Galaxy Concert Theatre in Santa Ana, playing an acoustic guitar and with support from bassist Jim Akin and keyboardist-guitarist Dennis Roche for a relatively spare performance of her recent and older songs, it won’t be a retreat into her past.

Indeed, she cautioned fans not to read too much into the concert’s acoustic format, saying her next album will explore terrain similar to “Life Is Sweet,” with more streamlined arrangements.

“If I were a new artist and I had made ‘Life Is Sweet,’ it probably would have been a big alternative-rock record,” the 34-year-old Los Angeles resident said. “But because I’ve been around and people expect a certain thing, it’s difficult. . . . A lot of people don’t understand. They think, ‘You were this and now you’re that--which one are you?’ I can understand that. A lot of artists find a niche and they stick with it.”

For McKee, “Life Is Sweet” represented a personal and artistic declaration of independence. She’s long been a fan of such alternative-rock forebears as David Bowie, Patti Smith and the Velvet Underground. But until recently, she lacked the confidence to express those influences in her music because of outside expectations.

McKee is no stranger to high expectations. She was still in her teens in 1983 when she became the singer in Lone Justice. The media and industry hype surrounding the country-flavored rock band was enormous when its debut album was released by Geffen in 1985.

The group was lauded by the likes of Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan, Tom Petty gave the group a song, and it toured with U2 as an opening act.

McKee was considered the crown jewel in Lone Justice largely for her rich and soulful vocals and commanding stage presence. So when the “Lone Justice” album flopped, the industry rethinking kicked in. Band members were fired and new ones hired.

“People were scared and people were impatient,” she said. “People [around the band] thought that record would sell more, and when it didn’t, they began to say, ‘Maybe this guitar player isn’t good enough’ or ‘Maybe this person isn’t a good enough songwriter.’ It just turned into a mess.”

Not long after the group’s second album, “Shelter,” was released in 1986, McKee was the only original member left. She went solo with her “Maria McKee” album in 1989. But that effort and the 1993 follow-up, “You Gotta Sin to Get Saved,” also failed to make her the star many expected her to be.

*

She now says that before “Life Is Sweet,” she was either too stubborn or too compliant in her dealings with people who were trying to help guide her career and work.

“For instance, I would make an album where people would [influence] what I was doing more than they should have,” she said. “Then once I realized I had given up too much, I would pull in the reins a little bit. But I wasn’t able to find the right balance.

“I was either completely terrified and fighting my way through things when I didn’t have to,” she said, “or I was allowing people to [influence] me regardless of what I thought.”

When Geffen balked at releasing the “Life Is Sweet” album, McKee tried unsuccessfully to get released from her contract with the company. When she returned to Geffen recently with her latest batch of similarly styled demos, the label agreed to make her a free agent. It was clear that the old country-rock Maria McKee wasn’t coming back any time soon.

“It’s not like I’m making Young Gods [punk] records,” she said. “[Some newer] songs like ‘Life Is Sweet’ could be by a Lilith Fair artist.”

Her immediate plans are to find a drummer and, with Akin and Roche aboard, to begin recording a new album in January. She probably will finance the recording herself, but she said she’d like to find a label to distribute it. Next year she also is planning to marry Akin, a Laguna Beach native.

*

McKee is confident that there is a substantial audience out there for her new sound.

“There are people who may never listen to me again,” she said. “But people who used to say, ‘Yeah, Maria McKee is really talented, but I never really hooked into her,’ a lot of those people are suddenly fans. Previously, they may have thought I was lacking the sense of adventure that’s evident on ‘Life Is Sweet.’

“Even a lot of my old fans,” she said, “once they got over the shock, are starting to learn to appreciate the new songs more.”

*

* Maria McKee performs Wednesday at the Galaxy Concert Theatre, 3503 S. Harbor Blvd., Santa Ana. 8 p.m. $15-$17. (714) 957-0600.