It’s a little bit country

Maybe they should start calling it the KZLA Almost Country Bash. There were lots of times Saturday when, if you’d suddenly been beamed in among the 15,000 fans who packed Irvine’s Verizon Wireless Amphitheater, you wouldn’t have had a clue you were at what radio station KZLA-FM (93.9) billed as an all-day country concert.

That’s because several erstwhile rockers now fancy themselves country, or at least friends of country. Topping the list is Kid Rock, who scored a country hit with his song “Picture,” in which Lee Ann Womack on Saturday handled the duet part sung by Sheryl Crow on record.

Rock lets Kid Country loose at times on his latest album, “Kid Rock,” but hasn’t abandoned his throbbing rap-rock, and Saturday indulged that aspect of his career as well.

This year’s lineup also included Bret Michaels, the hunky former lead singer of ‘80s metal band Poison, who donned a flame-emblazoned cowboy hat for the occasion but otherwise stuck to pounding rock rhythms and grandiose sing-along-ready hard-rock choruses for most of his 25-minute set.

Then Rock’s former DJ, Uncle Kracker, got his moment in the country spotlight, thanks largely to his equal-partner role with Kenny Chesney on their Jimmy Buffett-esque hit “When the Sun Goes Down.” Kracker’s performance, however, was more endearing for his off-key earnestness than for any emotional insight.

All that still left time for more conventionally country performers. The most astute was Womack, whose savvy song list ran from Rodney Crowell’s aching “Ashes by Now” to a powerfully slowed-down reading of Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land.”

Headlining Rascal Flatts, which just entered the pop album chart at No. 1 with its “Feels Like Today,” may be country’s next across-the-board success story. Yet the band, with singer Jay Demarcus, guitarist-pianist Gary Levox and guitarist Joe Don Rooney, never transcends the feeling of Disneyfied country, with hit after hit leaning heavily on inoffensive, feel-good sentimentality.

Likewise, sister trio SHeDAISY relies on attractive three-part harmonies in its glossy pop-country hits without ever delving into the troublesome parts of life, which distinguishes country’s most important artists.

Northern California mother-daughters trio the Jenkins exhibits the potential of offering something beyond ear candy, thanks to singer Brodie Jenkins, a 17-year-old with some of the most soulful pipes since Naomi Judd put daughter Wynonna in front of a microphone.

The irony was that the most riveting song of the day was sung by an artist who wasn’t even there: Before Rascal Flatts appeared, Johnny Cash’s “Drive On,” a commentary on the plight of Vietnam vets, was played over the P.A. system.

Now that’s country -- no ifs, ands or almosts.