Trick Pony steps up the pace with its sassy, maverick talent

It’s easy to see how hard-rocking country trio Trick Pony won the Academy of Country Music’s best new artist award this year. From a visual and performance viewpoint, the group is energetic enough to rise above the crowded field of would-be stars.

Qualities that have captured the attention of the public and the music industry were evident Thursday at the House of Blues Anaheim, where Trick Pony exhibited maverick sensibility and its relentless eagerness to please.

Only sporadically, though, does the group tap into songs equal to its onstage zeal. “Pour Me,” the first single from last year’s debut album, is one such song, a honky-tonk boogie that explodes with sassy attitude and bright wordplay. And on the new “On a Mission” album, Keith Burns, Ira Dean and Heidi Newfield impress often enough with their songwriting to sustain hopes that they’ll one day transcend the vestiges of bar-band razzle-dazzle that led to a contract and the ACM award.

The danger is that the threesome’s stage personas -- Newfield is the sexy wildcat, Burns the hunky cowboy and Dean the country Kid Rock -- could turn into self-parody. Along with bits of too-slick choreography, Trick Pony’s cartoonish tendencies sometimes undermine its real potential.