Branching Off of a Soul Tree : BARRELHOUSE “Peach” Steady Rollin’ Records (***)

You can almost hear Barrelhouse paraphrasing Bob Dylan’s desperate refrain: “Oh, mama, can this really be the end, to be stuck inside of O.C. with the Memphis blues again?”

While this potentially major band stews locally, waiting for a fairy godmother to take it out on the roots-rocking H.O.R.D.E. tour, where it belongs, it has continued to grow. The most impressive development on the self-financed “Peach” is Barrelhouse’s decision not to get stuck inside of Memphis as well as Orange County.

On its two 1994 albums, the cassette release “Blues on 10th ‘n’ Central” and the CD “Soul Pimps and Blues Pushers,” Barrelhouse proved that it could re-create the gritty Memphis soul sound of Otis Redding with accuracy and authenticity, all in the service of good original material written by singer Steave Ascasio.

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With “Peach,” Barrelhouse follows the same historical progression as the Memphis soul sound itself. Redding died in a plane crash in 1968, but such rockers as the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, Free, Mitch Ryder and Lynyrd Skynyrd took his inspiration in fruitful directions in the years that followed. “Peach,” in that sense, is another seed from Redding’s tree.

The album opens with roughhouse, swaggering takes on styles culled from Skynyrd and the Stones, the irate “Down With Your Scene” and the boastful “I Do It Good.” The two cuts are energetic fun, working as preliminary warmups to get the blood pumping. A couple of superfluous numbers bog down the early going--not much happens on the lumbering “Nothing Happens,” which could have used a more supple and swinging foundation, and the ballad “Nothing Lasts Forever” marks one of the rare times that Barrelhouse strains for a big emotional effect instead of accomplishing it naturally.

Other than that, “Peach” provides a bushel of rewards. With “As Angels Do,” Barrelhouse not only signals but completely fulfills its intention of stretching beyond its Memphis soul base.

“My Days Alone” continues the stylistic collage. This warm, wistful song’s catchy elements include a jangling guitar riff not unlike the Pretenders’ “Back on the Chain Gang,” a Beatle-esque, harmonized chorus and a gentle slide guitar solo that pays tribute to George Harrison.

Barrelhouse also succeeds with “Untitled,” a hazy psychedelic number in which Ascasio plays a sitar. The song sounds like Traffic in its trippy late-’60s period, except with Skynyrd’s husky-toned Ronnie Van Zant sitting in for Steve Winwood. The lyric deals with an epiphany revealing the need to live independently and tend to one’s own spiritual garden.

Otherwise, romantic loss is mainly what’s on Ascasio’s mind. “She Don’t Need You,” a song that sounds like Hootie & the Blowfish with an additive of real-soul grit, depicts a man wallowing in post-breakup bitterness, complete with misogynistic epithets, then soars with a valedictory refrain celebrating the new freedom his former lover has found in cutting loose from him.

After a ballad-heavy but never dull midsection, Barrelhouse heats up “Peach” on the home stretch. “Three” rides a taut funk groove like the Stones’ “Shattered,” but with the gifted Ascasio, a natural at smoky-voiced, heart-filled soul, recalling Redding or an urgent Al Green rather than Mick Jagger.

“Tell Me,” a shot of Memphis soul straight up, draws Barrelhouse back to its roots before the final two tracks, “Wither” and “Song for No One,” zoom off into far-flung hard-rock regions.

The CD could have used a more spacious sound, something that usually takes a lot of cash to achieve. Here’s hoping Barrelhouse’s members can persevere until a break comes and a record company arrives to show them the money. “Peach” proves that, if Barrelhouse does manage to get itself geographically and economically unstuck, it has the creative range to roam.

(Available from Barrelhouse, P.O. Box 9200-466, Fountain Valley, CA 92708.)

* Barrelhouse, the Mighty Jam and John Ernst play Sunday at 9 p.m. at the House of Blues, 8430 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood. $10. (213) 848-5100 (box office) or (213) 650-1451 (taped information). Also, Jan. 24 at the Tiki Bar, 1700 Placentia Ave., Costa Mesa. (714) 548-3533.

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Ratings range from * (poor) to **** (excellent), with *** denoting a solid recommendation.