POP MUSIC REVIEW : Trisha Yearwood Blossoms Under the Spotlight’s Glare

Trisha Yearwood figured to either blossom or wilt under the surge of acclaim that’s accompanied her second album, “Hearts in Armor.” In critical terms at least, she’s been singled out from the pack of newcomers as the key challenger to Wynonna Judd as the new queen of country.

Anyone who saw Yearwood when she opened for Garth Brooks on tour last year would probably vote for a major wilting. At that point the inexperienced singer seemed all but lost on stage.

But at the Crazy Horse here on Monday, Yearwood turned it around. Casually confident, if not exactly commanding, she delivered a rich selection of songs with the directness of pure country and the sophistication of the broader pop styles she’s absorbed.

Her stage persona isn’t fully formed, but it’s developing into one that can take charge of a show. Less honky-tonk angel than heartland goddess, she still looks the part of Miss Mid-State Fair despite her more stylish look, and she projected a warm, down-to-earth manner.

The Georgia native must have been watching Brooks from the wings on that tour. She doesn’t aspire to his exaggerated, larger-than-life showmanship, but the playfulness and the spirit of camaraderie among her six musicians reflected his influence, as did the concentration she applied to the moments of emotional intimacy.

Monday’s set was a little too slow too soon, as Yearwood prematurely subdued the upbeat mood of the opening “Say You Will” with the ballad “The Woman Before Me.” But it soon kicked into gear with a pairing of the new single “Walkaway Joe”--in a compellingly restrained delivery--with the lively “That’s What I Like About You.”

Yearwood added to the momentum by introducing the latter song with a story about the “brainless hunk” who was featured in the video. Her punch line elicited a right-on-sister cheer that was picked up and expanded by the instrumental hook and the musicians’ grouping at the front of the stage--a corny but endearing device.

Yearwood, who doesn’t write, has compiled a repertoire that encompasses a wide range of styles, themes and emotional levels, from literate studies of relationships to broader character pieces.

The most intriguing direction is represented by Emmylou Harris and Paul Kennerley’s “Woman Walk the Line,” in which a heartbroken woman demands the right to sit in a bar and drown her sorrows and be left alone. With Merle Haggard’s “I Think I’ll Just Stay Here and Drink” just a song away in the show, Yearwood mounted a pretty strong assault on the honky-tonk boys’ club.

The former demo singer’s voice carries a warmth and personality that Wynonna Judd’s more studied, clinical singing lacks. It has a Ronstadt-like richness when she wails, and a deft sense of phrasing on ballads. She brings a sophistication to bear on more pop-oriented numbers, and she applies a rootsy, mountain-music inflection to “Oh Lonesome You.”

Yearwood (who also plays the Riverside Cowboy in Riverside tonight) seemed to gain strength vocally as the show progressed, though the sound mix never allowed her to soar with the thrilling freedom that you suspect she could summon.

And she resisted empty vocal displays, making light of her one instance of showing off--interrupting the song just before the dipping, swooping final line to remark, “I’m kind of scared to do this in a small room.”

With albums like “Hearts in Armor” and shows this promising, she probably won’t have to worry about that for long.