POP MUSIC REVIEWS : Country ‘n’ Rock: A Magical Pairing : Cash, Beck Walk Compatible Line

Johnny Cash and Beck.

How different can two artists be?

Here you have the country legend in his 60s and the wily folk-blues-rock-whathaveyou hotshot in his 20s.

The remarkable--and ultimately endearing--thing about this wonderfully adventurous pairing Saturday night at the Pantages Theatre was seeing how very much the artists have in common.

Like Cash back in the 1950s, Beck is a young artist who loves to walk his own line musically. Who else in his first hometown show of the year would ignore the songs from the debut album, “Mellow Gold,” that established him the most compelling newcomer of 1994?

And who else in little more than a year could have established such a maverick reputation that his fans in the highly diverse crowd Saturday would cheer him on as he focused chiefly on decades-old blues tunes?

Ironically, Cash was the same age as Beck is now--23--when he made his recording debut. Despite early pop-rock success, the deep-voiced singer-songwriter committed to country music, but not country as usual. Cash went against the genre’s conservative grain in everything from sound (electric guitar and drums rather than fiddles) and dress (no rhinestone suits, thank you).

More important, Cash enriched the soul of country music through the ambition and integrity of drawing upon the social commentary of folk music and in recording challenging concept albums. There was in much of his music a strong identification with society’s underdogs--from victims of prejudice to exploited workers. Influencing everyone from Bob Dylan to Merle Haggard, Cash has been voted into both the country music and rock and roll halls of fame.

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Saturday’s concert was a toast to the career rejuvenation sparked last year by the album Cash recorded with rock producer Rick Rubin. Titled “American Recordings,” the solo acoustic work addresses questions of sin and redemption. The themes have long been part of Cash’s music, but there is a stark, intimate quality to the album that is especially striking.

Too restless an artist to simply replay what’s on the record, he mixed a few of the album’s songs Saturday with non-album songs to keep things fresh in a solo acoustic segment.

Most of the two-hour set, however, was devoted to the massive body of work that he has assembled in the last 40 years--from such early hits as “Folsom Prison Blues” to folk-tinged commentaries to expressions of his Christian faith. Singing with renewed authority, Cash was backed by a four-piece band that included his son, John Carter Cash, on rhythm guitar. Cash’s wife, June Carter, also joined the singer for a lively sequence.

Through it all, Cash seemed touched by the audience enthusiasm--especially at a time when he, like most veteran country stars, finds little acceptance on country radio playlists.

Noting the strong pop-orientation of today’s country music, Cash said between songs that a lot of the music sounds like it is “being recorded for people who hate country music.”

Yet Cash has always been difficult to classify. There is such a strong sense of humanity and craft to his music that folk, country, blues, rockabilly and gospel have all been applied to it at various times. But the words that best fit Cash’s music Saturday were simply . . . timeless and true.