FACES ‘94: More Names to Be Reckoned With in the Performing Arts : COUNTRY MUSIC : Bobbie Cryner

Nashville’s booming record business has produced so many new performers in the last five years that it’s hard to tell one twang from another on the radio anymore.

That gives Bobbie Cryner a leg up on the pack of ’94 hopefuls, since her dark, soulful voice is unlike anyone who’s come along in years. Her ultra-traditional country sound would fit comfortably in the jukebox next to such standard-bearers as George Jones and Patsy Cline.

That’s prompted some uncommonly enthusiastic reviews of her debut album, titled simply “Bobbie Cryner,” and from the audiences that heard her when she went on tour last year, opening for George Strait.

“The reaction that impressed me the most is letters from people who say ‘I’ve never written anybody before,’ or ‘When I saw you and heard you, I just had to sit down and write,’ ” she said by phone from Nashville, her home since 1988. “That’s really flattering, because it shows that they are really hearing what I have to say.”

What she says, she communicates not just through her twisting-turning vocals, but through lyrics of the album’s 10 songs, six of which she wrote. If there’s a common theme, she says, it is to address “the strength that I believe women possess . . . as individuals, not as a gender.”