Concert Brilliant in Its Simplicity

Country music star Vince Gill is a pop-music anomaly. In a culture that glorifies Dennis Rodman and Marilyn Manson, he’s a wholesome, mild-mannered gentleman who happens to sell millions of records.

The Oklahoma-born singer-songwriter-guitarist hardly overwhelms with oodles of personality. That low-key approach was evident Wednesday night from the moment he walked onstage at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, where he greeted a capacity crowd simply, “Hi--I’m Vince.”

But the many facets of Vince’s musical persona emerged during the next nearly three hours, dispelling any concerns that this all-around nice guy might lull anyone to sleep.

Forgoing the glitzy theatrics of the Shanias and Garths of the world, Gill spent most of his show dazzling the audience with something far more lasting--quality songs and sterling musicianship.

Hit ballads are really Gill’s forte, and his pure-sounding tenor was in good form.

The conflicting emotions of “Look at Us” and “Never Alone,” the latter co-written by Gill and Rosanne Cash, rang true. In “Tryin’ to Get Over You,” Gill expressed tremendous heartache on the simple but convincing lyric: “I’ve been tryin’ to get over you / It’ll take dyin’ / to get it done.”

“Pretty Little Adriana” is a somber ballad written from the perspective of the parents of a girl killed in a drive-by shooting. Playing mournful, Mark Knopfler-like notes, Gill gently peeled off emotionally charged passages that were both draining and cathartic.

Gill addresses his own feelings of longing and sadness on last year’s highly personal album, “The Key.”

The one-time bluegrass picker pays homage to traditional country music on the album, and several of its songs were exquisitely rendered live, including the roadhouse shuffle “Don’t Come Cryin’ to Me,” a hillbilly-sounding “The Hills of Caroline” and the Ray Charles-inspired, Grammy-winning “If You Ever Have Forever in Mind.”

Throughout the concert, Gill alternated between acoustic and electric guitars, even strapping on the banjo for “Given More Time.” For the most part, his playing was surprisingly restrained as he worked unobtrusively in support of each song.

*

In the homestretch, Gill cut loose with some blistering solos. He soared during an extended version of the Eagles’ “I Can’t Tell You Why,” and a ferocious call-and-response jam with slide guitarist Tom Britt reinvented his lackluster studio version of “One Dance With You.”

Gill wore a black sport coat, jeans and a pair of saddle shoes and was an unusually funny and chatty host. His jokes about the perils of being a father to a 16-year-old daughter (“Her boyfriend is definitely another Eddie Haskell”) and the travails of making a living playing bluegrass (“An optimist is a banjo player with a beeper”) added a playful vibe.