POP MUSIC REVIEWS : STEVIE RAY VAUGHAN’S BLITZ KEEPS ITS BALANCE

“Leave ‘em wanting more” is a maxim that Stevie Ray Vaughan obviously doesn’t believe in. His first number at the Wiltern Theatre on Wednesday was the kind of blistering, breakneck instrumental that most would save for the climax of a set--if they could handle such a workout at all.

From there on out, it was a true-to-form exhausting edition of Blues You Can Dance To, with little relief from the blitz for the tired or timid.

Luckily, Vaughan and his trio, Double Trouble, can sustain it without too much vain repetition. He generally stays away from the two traps that afflict virtually every Johnny-come-lately guitar hero of this decade--too much slow blues and too much notes-for-notes’-sake.

The Austin, Tex., native flirts constantly with that kind of overkill, and early in the set it appeared he might succumb: The vocals were few and the solos very, very many, but the balance between chops and songs seemed to even out a bit as the performance went on.

There was sufficient variety within the guitarist’s self-imposed stylistic limitations, the danceable remake of Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition” being a fine example. But thinking back on his radically different work on David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance,” one can’t help thinking that he harbors the potential to integrate even more styles into the blues, given the right collaborators.

One person Vaughan should collaborate with again as quickly as possible is Lou Ann Barton, who opened the show and who used to sing in a Texas roadhouse band with the guitarist way back when.

In terms of pure aggressive appeal, if not technique, Barton is one of the best white rock ‘n’ roll/R&B; singers in the world, and a woefully unheralded one.

Her choice of recent nuggets showed plenty of good sense, but when she tackles an upbeat oldie like Hank Ballard’s “Finger Poppin’ Time,” she can actually convince you she’s offering the definitive version--sorry, Hank.

The Vaughan/Barton four-night stand continues through Saturday.