Keri Carr's voice, clear and ebullient, matches her demeanor as Rowdy Kate tears into "Honky Tonk Sin," a band original that examines the eternal struggle between piety and "whiskey drinkin'."

Carr's delivery, combined with the joyful noise of Telecaster guitars, gives the song an irresistible bounce. But when Rowdy Kate switches to the traditional Mexican song "La Barca de Oro," the mood in Carr's living room – where the band is rehearsing – turns reverent, and Carr's voice assumes a new richness.

"I grew up singing that music," Carr, 34, said of the Mexican songs she performed as a girl with her mother, Teri Lamade. Carr sang backup for her mother when Lamade, who was working at the U.S. Embassy in Madrid, performed occasionally for visiting diplomats.

"We dressed her up in a little Mexican costume," Lamade said. "We were fortunate to be able to find one in Spain."

These days, Lamade is singing backup for Carr, and on Saturday night, she will sit in with Rowdy Kate during a Cinco de Mayo-tinged show to benefit La Raza Galeria Posada in midtown Sacramento. "I need practice, (because) now she sings better than I do!" Lamade said with a laugh.

The traditional Mexican songs Carr listened to in her mother's house gave way to country music when Carr, whose parents split when she was young, spent time with her father, Steve Smith, a one-time cowboy and now chief of police in Blythe, Riverside County. So when Carr decided to embark on a singing career of her own, she naturally chose … punk rock and pop.

"Neither of them suited my voice," said Carr, who moved frequently in her youth and graduated from San Juan High School. "That's why I wanted to do country – because it's the only thing I can sing semi-well."

In 2006, she began Rowdy Kate with her husband, Larry Carr, 42, who started on bass and eventually switched to drums, and lead guitarist Geoff Miller, 33. They later recruited guitarist Robert Sidwell, 40, and bassist Dave Garrity, 42. All were veterans of the local music scene, but none was a seasoned country musician.

Named after a saloon-owner character in a 1950s dime novel called "Bloody Kansas," Rowdy Kate favors the old-school twang of Merle Haggard and Loretta Lynn. Keri isn't supposed to be Kate, though she's often addressed as such, and even answers to "Rowdy" on occasion. Whatever she's called, she's a natural frontwoman, says Mindy Giles of Swell Productions, the local promoter behind the La Raza show.

"The very first time I saw her open her mouth, I thought, 'This is about as close to Linda Ronstadt as I am ever going to get here,' " Giles said. Along with the obvious Mexican-music connection to Ronstadt's later career, Carr, dressed in jeans and a tank top, also evokes Ronstadt's 1970s California-casual vibe.

"She has a great stage presence … interacting with the audience as well as with the band," Giles said. "You always get a sense of freedom from her that allows the audience to have a good time."

Carr and the other band members tease each other good-naturedly during their weekly Wednesday-night practice at the Carrs' house in Sacramento's College Greens area. Everyone gangs up on Sidwell because he didn't bring his baritone guitar, one of three guitars he plays with Rowdy Kate, which adds Larry Tracy on pedal steel for many gigs.

In between run-throughs of Haggard and Emmylou Harris tunes, the band members discuss all sorts of topics. Sidwell will offer tidbits about music history, and Miller will chime in about world history, his major in college.

"Whenever we get into political debates, (Miller) always brings up historical stuff," Keri Carr said with a laugh. "I can't compete with that!"

Carr and Miller both write songs for Rowdy Kate, but the band has managed to record only an EP so far. But considering that all the guys have day jobs and that Keri Carr owns a business – midtown's Honey Salon, where she and her mother both cut hair – things have progressed pretty well. They play regularly around town, and this year, like last, they will headline one of the Concerts in the Park. (Rowdy Kate's Aug. 7 show caps the annual Cesar Chavez Park series, which starts tonight with Sol Peligro.)

"Their original repertoire holds up pretty well against some of the (classic) songs they are playing," Giles said. "The musicianship is really high – those are very fine players."

Most of the band members were country fans before they were country musicians.

"I was a lost soul for a long time," jokes Miller. "I dabbled in everything – blues, jazz, country, rock. I am not saying I did it well."

Garrity, resistant to the country music that surrounded him while growing up in North Carolina, finally embraced it when he had to learn 40 songs – fast – to play with Rowdy Kate. He since has developed what he calls a "wardrobe fetish" for Western wear.

"I spent about $800 at Boot Barn over a two-month period," said Garrity, clad on rehearsal night in Lucchese lizard-skin boots.

The band would like to record a full album and perhaps eventually make it to the roots-music/Americana circuit, along with acts like Dale Watson and the Derailers.

First, they need to write more songs – and probably rehearse more than once a week. But for now, they're still having fun, thus adhering to the core philosophy of all honky-tonk bands.

"We are not trying to set ourselves these goals, and punish ourselves if we don't do it," Larry Carr said. "Because then it's like, what's the point? But at the same time, you've gotta push yourself a little bit."

Call Bee movie critic Carla Meyer, (916) 321-1118.