Pop Music Reviews : Queen of Country Plays It Solidly, Sincerely : Tammy Wynette turns down the scripted patter that has marred other shows and gives some emotion-filled gems to the Crazy Horse audience.

It has all been said about Tammy Wynette, both good and bad. After three decades in music, half-a-hundred albums and 19 No. 1 hits, everyone knows she can connect with a song the way few singers can. And those who have seen Wynette several times in concert know how rarely she elects to do so in her brief, often-formulaic shows.

That’s understandable. Most country artists--particularly vets who must rely on touring for their income now that age-bigoted radio shuts them out--play hundreds of dates in hundreds of cities a year. With schedules like that, it’s a sign of determination and resilience if they can even tell day from night when they hit the stage.

Wynette has been on that road forever, and only last year was sidetracked by an intestinal illness that required her to be hooked up to life-support systems for several days. So, if the queen of country music doesn’t spend every moment onstage asserting her right to the crown, no big deal. She’s earned it.

Wynette did indeed coast through much of her early show at the Crazy Horse Steak House on Monday, though she did it with more grace than on previous visits. Those had been marred by scripted, jokey patter between her and her band mates, and it was like watching wind-up toys going through the motions.

There was a bare minimum of that this time out--just one tired jest about Dolly Parton’s bust. Instead, Wynette--who was seated on a stool for much of the show--spent a good while talking to the audience: about her health, her kids, her grandkids, her musical reunion with ex-husband George Jones (expect their duet album in June, she said, as well as a joint tour this year) and other things. Much of this, too, was probably rote, shared with audiences nightly, but her talk at least seemed sincere and drawn from her life.

And, as with her past shows, there was no doubting her sincerity on one point: When Wynette announces that a song is special to her, she goes on to prove it.

She gave that nod to three numbers in her 14-song set Monday. One was her longtime favorite, the 1976 No. 1 hit “ ‘Til I Can Make It on My Own,” a truly touching ballad about the lingering need when love departs: “Until I get used to losin’ you / Let me keep on using you / ‘Til I can make it on my own.”

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While on some songs Wynette’s voice merely nibbled at the lyric, there was no ignoring when she really sank her teeth into a tune. Wynette has a voice that is naturally given to conveying deep feeling, and certainly the aching side of life.

As an instrument, her voice has little catches and breaks, which might be seen as flaws in classical terms, but which, like Chieftain Paddy Moloney’s uilleann pipes, possess a deeply human character.

The other songs that got the full benefit of that voice were “What Do They Know” from her recent “Without Walls” album, and the oldie “That’s the Way It Could Have Been,” which was resurrected on the 1993 “Honky Tonk Angels” album Wynette recorded with Parton and Loretta Lynn.

Other songs in the set included “Your Good Girl’s Gonna Go Bad,” “D-I-V-O-R-C-E,” “I Don’t Wanna Play House” and “They Call It Making Love.” Even though it was a short show--an hour, including the 12 minutes she left to let her band members sing three tunes--she did full versions of the songs, instead of the truncated medleys she’s sometimes done.

Of course she performed “Stand by Your Man,” and her vocal gave the impression that finally, after 27 years, she has grown thoroughly bored of the song. Perhaps Wynette is ready for a new anthem, and she did speak glowingly of a song she and Jones recorded for their upcoming album. The title? “If God Met You, She Wouldn’t Like You.”