Reagon Breaks Musical Boundaries With a Spirited, Forceful Show

“Congregational spirit means you forget that you paid money to get in here. . . . And you walk out of here a little different,� charismatic singer-songwriter Toshi Reagon said Tuesday as she roused the audience at LunaPark for some gospel-style participation.

It’s a good bet everyone did leave a little changed--even if just in their perceptions of musical boundaries. Washington-raised, New York-based Reagon, building a buzz with her recent “The Righteous Ones� album after more than 10 years of performing, showed in this Los Angeles debut that she sets her own standards.

Her roots are in the church-activism intersection of the civil rights movement--her parents were both in the seminal Freedom Singers, and her mother, Bernice Johnson Reagon, leads a veteran folk vocal group, Sweet Honey in the Rock. But she takes that heritage in distinctly personal directions, much as Ani DiFranco takes her folk-punk mix or MeShell Ndegeocello her soul-rock blend.

Reagon and singers Judith Casselberry and Catherine Russell were seated with acoustic instruments, but with a three-man rock band cranking it up behind them this was no subdued folk act. The earthy, forceful “There Are� recalled Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young at their fieriest. “For You� churned like folk singer Odetta backed by Crazy Horse. And there were references to Laura Nyro and hints of Al Green and Delta blues--without ever seeming derivative.

If Reagon made any miscalculation, it was stating that the changes she hopes to bring are subtle. She might be underestimating her own potential.