POP MUSIC REVIEW : Raitt’s Transition to a Balladeer for the ‘90s

“It’s a long way from Trancas, right here,” said Bonnie Raitt, opening a three-night stand on Wednesday at the Universal Amphitheatre, referring not just to the geographical distance from the tiny Malibu nightclub where she was resigned to squeezing ‘em in with a shoehorn not all that long ago, on the downside of her career.

That was pre-comeback, pre-Grammys, pre-”Nick of Time,” of course. A veteran singer/guitarist with a good character, a smart mouth, a sexy walk, nimble fingers and a dignified, self-respecting attitude, Raitt is too little the Cinderella-complex type to allow for any fairy-tale analogies. (“I can find my own diamond ring!” she playfully barked at a wayward suitor in “Real Man.”)

Still, this triumphant homecoming at the end of a long tour had the flavor of, at least, the epilogue to a feel-good TV movie, if not the happily-ever-after denouement for a bedtime success story.

The transition from outdated ‘70s blues-rock mama to essential ‘90s balladeer seemed complete, not least of all because Raitt has held firmly onto her blues roots, but without staying in that place of arrested development that is sometimes part and parcel with maintaining a blues attitude .

She still growls out a fine “Sugar Mama” and “Give It Up or Let Me Go”--and you can trace an obvious line between the cocky defiance of those blues numbers and the quiet assurance of her ballads.

But those older songs, fun as they are, seem distinctly like performances. The songs Raitt really inhabits now are newer, softer, more mature statements of purpose like Bonnie Hayes’ “Have a Heart,” her own “Nick of Time” and David Lasley’s “I Ain’t Gonna Let You Break My Heart Again,” the last of which, she said, “I waited a long time to be grown-up enough to sing.”

The musical and thematic arc of her well-constructed show was cleverly reflected in the set design, a vista of desert buttes with a skyline backdrop. The early portion of the set focused on good-time, up-tempo numbers from the span of her career, the ruddy sky behind Raitt gradually darkening.

The nighttime segment, with starry sky and rising moon, encompassed tender ballads like “Louise” as well as blues numbers with a rootsier, scaled-down version of her group that she introduced as “the back porch band.” And the sunrise, aided and abetted by a morning thunderstorm, commenced with a couple of light but rousing rockers from her latest and most popular album.

It’s hard to say whether Raitt’s stage presence is enabled more by her fine slide guitar playing or her good humor and strong rapport. In any case, she went out of her way to credit almost all the songwriters responsible for the evening’s material, from mentor Mississippi Fred McDowell to herself (“Here’s one of my tunes, since I qualify as an old blueswoman now,” she quipped during the “back porch” segment).

And perhaps most admirable and endearing was the moment in which she marveled at how far she’d come career-wise, and then went on to emphatically reinforce that, however happy she was about her comeback, it was not the factor behind her personal recovery and happiness, which predated the chart/award success. In other words, when it comes to the fickle pop audience, she’s co-dependent no more.

Even if Raitt’s set hadn’t been half so spirited, she’d have been worthy of a standing ovation just for her inspired choice of opening acts on the tour--smooth “Sequoia of soul” Charles Brown and the utterly unpeggable, certifiably commitable NRBQ.

Brown may be the only singer alive who can refer to himself in the third person more than Jerry Lee Lewis yet still come off as humble. Accompanying himself on piano and joined gradually by members of Raitt’s band, Brown crooned his way through a slew of forgotten classics.

Veteran quartet NRBQ plays a kind of barroom rock that sounds messy but is, in fact, quite jazzy and sporadically brilliant, with sweet, boy-like lyrics and somewhat maniacal on-stage attitude. They’re either the Beach Boys of the ‘90s or the Replacements of the ‘70s.

So don’t be late if you plan to see Raitt, Brown and NRBQ finish up their Universal stint with a sold-out show tonight, or their tour-capper on Sunday night at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre.