PARSLEY SAGE ABOUT HER SONGS.

Byline: David Bloom Staff Writer

Ambrosia Parsley didn't grow up in the South, unless you count the south side of the San Fernando Valley, or of California, as part of the land of William Faulkner and Flannery O'Connor.

But man, for a girl from Reseda, she sure can spin a yarn straight outta Yoknapatawpha County. Usually, these baroque tales of her upbringing are delivered in coy, comical fashion between songs by the band she fronts, Shivaree.

One Christmas fave is the tale of the TV ziggurat, erected in the family room when first a big set failed, then a smaller set atop it also died and finally a still smaller set was put atop that. At Christmastime, corrugated paper that looked like bricks would be taped to the sides of the sets, and stockings would be hung from the faux fireplace's sides.

``It was my favorite Christmas decoration,'' said Parsley, nursing a cold Tuesday at her parents' current home in Northridge before tonight's Shivaree show at the Mint with Amy Corriea.

Such stories help add to the Southern gothic vibe that inhabits Shivaree's songs, which have been variously, if opaquely, described as trip hop country, house country or, even more goofily, post-colonial and roman house. The band name, culled from a Jesse James biography, means a ``drunken cowboy serenade with pots and pans,'' Parsley says.

Suffice it to say, Shivaree layers Parsley's coquettish vocals over a veteran band whose sound shifts hazily from blues to jazz to country to dreamy, midnight-in-the-swamp sounds that really don't accept easy description.

``It's pretty eclectic and it's all over the place,'' Parsley said. ``I just want to be a good singer, and I discover how to do that better every little period. I try not to suck as much as possible. That's the basic credo. But the music is all over the place.''

The sound is shown to good effect in the band's well-received debut release from last fall, ``I Ought to Give You a Shot in the Head for Making Me Live in This Dump'' (Capitol). Turns out, there's a story behind that title, too.

It came from the `60s sitcom ``Green Acres,'' in an episode where a cow eats a radio that continues to broadcast a contest where listeners guess a country song's name. The contest's goofball answer became the album's name. You can expect more good stories, and good songs, in tonight's show.

``I don't tell any stories that aren't true,'' Parsley said. ``I haven't run out of good stories yet.''

The facts

--Who: Amy Corriea, Shivaree and Minibar.

--Where: The Mint, 6010 W. Pico Blvd.

--When: doors open at 7:30 p.m., show at 9:30 tonight.

--Tickets $8; call [phone] for information.

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``I haven't run out of good stories yet,'' says Shivaree's Ambrosia Parsley.