Brick by Brick

Kasey Chambers is the ultimate in cool on the cover of her new album, “Barricades & Brickwalls.” Staring seductively at the camera as she walks down the street dangling a guitar in hand, she looks like the maverick love child of Steve Earle and Lucinda Williams.

The Australian singer-songwriter brings the character and independence of that pairing to the album’s defiant title track--a rowdy, feminist declaration that runs counter to all the helpless waif songs in pop music.

No matter what obstacles you put in front of her, Chambers vows in the blistering country-rock tune, she’s going to get her way. You can tie her down on the railroad track and let that freight train loose, but she still boasts that “I’ll be damned if you’re not my man/Before the sun goes down.”

Like Williams and Earle, she’s part of the alt-country world that mixes traditional and modern sensibilities, and she’s gifted enough to earn the cheers of critics and her role models.

Williams, the literary-minded songwriter who guests on one track on “Barricades & Brickwalls,” calls Chambers her favorite new artist. Earle, who is a Nashville rebel in the tradition of Willie and Waylon, says Chambers is the best female singer he’s heard in “a long, long time.”

Critics--in magazines from Rolling Stone to Vanity Fair--invariably compare Chambers to other great alt-country figures such as Emmylou Harris and the late Gram Parsons, who inspired the whole “No Depression” country-rock movement that includes Ryan Adams, Wilco and the Old 97’s.

Like Parsons, Chambers knows country music isn’t a straitjacket, but a form to be manipulated--as the Village Voice’s review of “Barricades” noted.

In the album’s “A Little Bit Lonesome,” she writes a song in the classic Hank Williams heartbreak style. It’s so authentic you have to check the album credits to be sure it isn’t an old Williams song. Then she sings Parsons’ “Still Feeling Blue” with a spirit that makes it her own.

Chambers’ music, however, isn’t just about homage, even if her vocal tone sometimes seems shaped by the same Southern mountain range as a young Dolly Parton’s. Her “Nullarbor Song” is a sweet, folk-accented salute to the vast desert region in Australia where she lived for years; “Falling Into You” and “On a Bad Day” are confessional country-pop tunes. There’s even a rare entry into social commentary on “Ignorance,” a bonus track on the album.

It’s the kind of musical vision that comes instinctively from blending musical styles rather than trying to flow with the commercial currents of the day, and it’s an approach that has made Chambers a major star back home. Both her albums have gone to No. 1 on the pop charts in Australia. She’s likely to be a star in this country too, but on a more limited scale.

In the cold reality of today’s record business, there is often a glass ceiling for artists whose music doesn’t fit into one of the mass radio formats, whose exposure offers the quickest path to the top of the charts. It’s the same barrier that has kept many of Chambers’ influences, from Parsons to Lucinda Williams, from seeing their commercial success even come close to their critical acclaim.

Will it be any different for Chambers?

Jeff Pollack, one of the nation’s leading programming consultants for radio and television stations, says it’s a stiff challenge.

“There’s nothing more frustrating than to see great new artists run up against this format issue because when you hear someone as good as Kasey Chambers or Chris Isaak or Lyle Lovett or Ryan Adams, you want everyone to be able to hear them,” he says.

You can learn a lot about how pop stars aren’t born equal by looking at just two nights over the last 18 months at the Roxy in West Hollywood.

Two gifted young singer-songwriters had industry taste makers on their feet cheering at separate showcase performances, and both women went on to become stars. But the vastly different size of the artists’ success says a lot about how the boundaries of stardom vary depending on your genre of music.

One was Alicia Keys, who was showcased at the Roxy last May with a musical style that incorporates ideal elements for today’ pop marketplace--sounds, including hip-hop, soul and pop, that are adored by Top 40 radio programmers. Thanks to that airplay and strategic TV appearances, Keys’ debut album has sold more than 4.5 million copies in the U.S. and earned her five awards, including best new artist, at last month’s Grammys.

The other was Chambers, who played the club in the summer of 2000. It was clear that her classic-minded, country-driven style would be considered too raw and rockish for country stations that lean toward a slick, pop-minded approach.

Chambers, 25, has become a star in this country only with critics and the handful of radio stations, including KCRW-FM (89.9) in Santa Monica, whose playlists are aimed at adventurous listeners. The result is that her debut album, “The Captain,” has sold only about 65,000 copies in the U.S.

On an encouraging note, her label, Warner Bros. Records, is dedicated to finding an audience for the singer. Tom Biery, the label’s senior vice president of promotion, believes there is a song on “Barricades & Brickwalls” that can get airplay on pop stations.

Ironically, the song, “Not Pretty Enough,” is a statement about not being accepted by pop radio.

Against a gentle, seductive backing, Chambers sings:

Am I not pretty enough

Is my heart too broken

Do I cry too much

Am I too outspoken

Don’t I make you laugh?

About the song, Chambers says, “The frustration in the song is not being able to hear so many of my favorite artists, from Lucinda to Matthew Ryan, on the radio.

“The song is asking, ‘Why don’t you play us?’ In asking it, I also know the answer to all those questions. Yes, we are too outspoken. Yes, we cry too much. People don’t want to hear that intensity on the radio, and radio stations are afraid if they do play something with bite, listeners may tune out. But it’s that edge that often makes music worth hearing.”

If Chambers ever does defy the odds and make it big in this country, her story is going to be a media favorite. It’s amusing to picture the frantic race to be the first magazine or TV show to get footage of Chambers on the Nullarbor, talking about what it was like living in the desolate region for 10 years.

She was just 3 weeks old when her parents put her and her older brother, Nash, into a Toyota Land Cruiser that became their home while her dad hunted foxes for a living. Because there was no other entertainment, young Chambers spent hours listening to tapes of her guitar-playing father’s versions of American country music. Johnny Cash, Hank Williams and Parsons were among the favorites.

It’s a time she captures eloquently in “Nullarbor Song,” which describes the region’s late-night isolation: “You can hear the train on the line/The whistle blows just to break the silence/I wave just to break the time.”

When she was 10, the family returned to Southend, an appropriately named small town on the southern tip of Australia. The plan was for Kasey and her brother, who had been tutored only by their mother, to attend school. But Bill Chambers soon became restless, and the family began traveling around Australia doing shows in clubs and bars. As the Dead Ringers, they even made some albums.

The band ended in the early ‘90s, when her parents separated. By then it was evident that Kasey was the true talent in the group, and she started a solo career. Still, it was a family affair. Her dad plays guitar in her band, and her brother is studio producer.

Warner Bros. is optimistic about moving Chambers to the next commercial level. Thanks to glowing reviews and word of mouth, the new album has sold nearly 35,000 copies in three weeks--more than half of the first album’s sales in almost two years.

Despite the stark determination of the song “Barricades & Brickwalls,” Chambers, who is expecting her first child in May, doesn’t seem relentlessly driven to duplicate her Australian success in this country.

“This is a bonus for me,” Chambers said during a recent visit here to record some songs at the Largo for later broadcast on KCRW and for a return engagement at the Roxy. “This isn’t what pays my rent. I realize there are so many differences between Australia and America in terms of population and music styles and radio formats. I’m thrilled just to be able to spend my life making music.

“The strange thing, though, is I hear people in this country all the time talking about how terrible music is these days, and I think to myself, ‘Are you crazy?’ How can it be terrible when you have people like Lucinda Williams and Emmylou Harris and Buddy and Julie Miller making records? When I hear that, I just tell them they may just be looking for good music in the wrong places.”

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Robert Hilburn, The Times’ pop music critic, can be reached at robert.hilburn@latimes.com.