Taupin and the Farm Dogs Have a Peaceful, Easy Feeling

With Bernie Taupin fronting the band the Farm Dogs on stage Tuesday at the Troubadour, it was natural to flash on a superstar act that has a historical connection to the West Hollywood club--the Eagles.

Of course the aura of Elton John--who was launched to stardom with a Troubadour stand in 1970--was there too, but mostly just through the presence of his primary lyricist Taupin. But the Farm Dogs’ music, with its strummed guitars, chummy camaraderie, sandy harmonies and wide-open-spaces themes, is nothing if not a cousin to ‘70s California rock.

Before the show, which celebrated the release of his band’s second album, “Immigrant Sons,” Taupin downplayed his own connection to the club.

“[Playing here] is not intentional for the reasons you might think,” Taupin, 47, said. “It’s a real Farm Dogs place--roots-oriented. There’s some serious history on that stage. It’s nice to think that I was here 28 years ago. I did mention to Elton that I was playing here. . . . He said, ‘I’m sorry I won’t be there.’ I said, ‘I’m not!’ I don’t need that kind of pressure.”

The quintet was founded by Taupin and two fellow California-based Englishmen, guitarists Jim Cregan and Robin LeMesurier, purely for the fun of it, and that intent showed in the evening’s unpretentious modesty. Taupin didn’t even use the occasion to pump Wednesday’s charity auction of his handwritten lyrics of “Candle in the Wind 1997,” John’s Princess Diana tribute that became the all-time best-selling single. (The Lund Foundation paid $400,000 for the lyrics, benefiting Los Angeles Childrens Hospital.)

As for the material they did play, it too rests largely on modest goals. The music breaks no new ground, the playing is professional but somewhat faceless, and Taupin’s singing is rough though personable (a sore throat didn’t help).

One observer Wednesday dubbed this a “midlife crisis band,” but that’s actually the source of the group’s appealing male-bonding quality. It’s all simple enough--no visions of playing Dodger Stadium. And not a sequin or feather boa in sight.