Rockabilly looks all Rosie.

Byline: Lewis Taylor The Register-Guard

To trace the roots of Rosie Flores' one-of-a-kind rockabilly sound - a swirl of Western swing, honky-tonk, roots and country with a hint of punk attitude - you've got to start in Southern California, where the pieces started to come together for the singer, guitarist and songwriter.

Flores already had been playing music for five years when she moved to San Diego with her family at age 12, but in California she discovered a whole new world of music: surf guitar, country, blues and garage rock. She played with Penelope's Children, formed the country-rockabilly band Rosie & the Screamers, performed as a solo artist and fronted a series of different groups.

"I had a band with (singer and multi-instrumentalist) James Intveld and (bassist) Russell Scott called Rosie & the Reverbs," she told the Country Standard Time earlier this year. "Then there was the Screamin' Sirens, who were sort of punkish rockabilly.

`But the fact that rockabilly audiences liked my country music side. ... That started bringing it all together."

Flores, who now calls Nashville home, is currently on tour to promote her latest release, the live album "Single Rose." She comes to the Shedd on Wednesday for a solo show.

Flores' new CD was recorded inside the Douglas Corner nightclub in Nashville over the course of several nights. She enlisted the help of several guest artists, including Intveld and fiddler Tammy Rogers, and recorded 14 mostly original tunes that ranged from rockabilly to roots to 1930s jazz.

On her version of Butch Hancock's lonely train song, "Boxcars," Flores evokes Django Reinhardt. She credits her guitarist T.K. Smith for making the tune really swing.

"I took my adaptation of my version of T.K. Smith's version of Django," Flores said. "Mine's kind of a third generation down. But I am a really big Django Reinhardt fan."

Other tracks on Flores' latest album, which she released on her own Durango Rose label, include the swinging "Aromatherapy Cowgirl" and the lilting "Daddy's Lullaby."

The opening track on "Single Rose," "Palomino Days," hearkens back to an earlier time in Flores' life when she practically lived in the same North Hollywood nightclub where Emmylou Harris, Lucinda Williams and Buddy & Julie Miller regularly held court.

While in Hollywood, Flores signed a short-lived record deal with Warner Bros. She was lumped together with Dwight Yoakam and other "new traditionalists," who were working to return country to its roots.

After moving to Austin, Flores became a regularly featured favorite on `Austin City Limits.' She wrote songs with Jimmie Dale Gilmore, performed with her Texas heroes Joe and Butch Hancock, and put out a second solo record on Hightone Records.

Throughout the 1990s, Flores continued to collaborate. She teamed up with Wanda Jackson, Iris Dement, Marshall Crenshaw and Joe Ely. On the 1997 release "A Little Bit of Heartache," she did a duet with rockabilly legend Ray Campi.

Flores' 1999 release, "Dance Hall Dreams," earned her reams of critical praise. Her follow-up album, "Speed of Sound," had a distinctive jazz influence, which Flores traced to her earlier collaborations with Jackson.

Still, she stayed true to her rockabilly roots, which she saw as an antidote to the homogenization of popular music.

"Music has gotten so over-the-top-produced out there on radio and (the rockabilly genre) kind of brings it back to simplicity," she told Billboard magazine. "It's about rhythm, just simple rhythm that people can move to.

`It's more basic and honest music."

CONCERT PREVIEW

Rosie Flores

When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday

Where: The Shedd, 285 E. Broadway

Tickets: $15 to $24, 687-6526

CAPTION(S):

Rosie Flores is one of the few female rockabilly headliners.