By ROBERT KINSLER
Special to the Register

Lee Rocker couldn't be busier.

In the wake of his memorable performance at Hootenanny in Irvine last weekend, the Laguna Beach resident is releasing two new albums this month and leaves next week on a tour that includes dates in England, Sweden, Spain and Switzerland. He will headline at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano on Sept. 16.

"The Curse of Rockabilly" is Rocker's latest collection of new material, including new tracks such as "Runnin' From the Hounds" and "Texarkana to Panama City," as well as a wonderful reworking of "Rock This Town," one of the best-known hits from his old band, the Stray Cats.

In addition, 33rd Street Records is set to release "Burnin' Love: The Best of Lee Rocker," an enhanced CD that features 22 tracks, three videos and a 16-page booklet detailing the career of the celebrated singer-songwriter-bassist. Both titles are set for release Tuesday, and copies of either disc purchased through his official Web site are
autographed by Rocker.

"One of the curses throughout history is it's too rock for country radio and too country for rock radio," Rocker said of rockabilly, the style the Stray Cats helped revive in the early 1980s.

Rocker continues to be one of the genre's most talented and well-recognized proponents.

"The record companies don't know what to do with it; it falls through the cracks in the music business."

Rocker noted that the style was born in the mid-50s and enjoyed a brief heyday then, thanks to the imprint of artists such as Carl Perkins and Buddy Holly & the Crickets. It then was reawakened briefly by the success of the Stray Cats 25 years later with hits such as "Stray Cat Strut," Runaway Boys" and the aforementioned "Rock This Town."

"It's alive and well and it's underground," Rocker said of rockabilly's existence in 2005.

Rocker is particularly excited to be performing at Dingwalls in London on July 17. It will mark the 25th anniversary of his first performance at the venue that launched the Stray Cats' commercial success. In 1980, the Massapequa, N.Y.-spawned Stray Cats were embraced as part of the English modern-rock scene that included the Clash, the Pretenders and the Dead Boys.

"This is really a return; everything started for my career at Dingwalls. It was just a magic time," Rocker said. "With the Stray Cats, we really had a foot in the punk world and a foot in the rockabilly world."

Rockabilly may be viewed as a retro style, much like blues, but Rocker's musical approach is very modern. His performances on disc, as well as the 100 or so concerts he gives each year, are powerful and steeped in a modern-rock edge that emerged out of the punk movement of the late 1970s.

"It's what you put into it, putting your own stamp on things," Rocker said.

Based on the thousands of fans crowding around the stage when he performed at Hootenanny on July 2, Rocker wouldn't count out rockabilly coming back into the spotlight.

"I think it's just getting bigger. I hope it's on the verge (of a commercial re-emergence); it's time for something to cut through the fog and haze."