McGraw, Hill let loose at Whisky

Marge Smith credits Tim McGraw’s 2004 country hit “Live Like You Were Dying” for boosting her out of the malaise that plagued her after her husband died 11 years ago.

“He changed my life,” said the Whittier retiree, sitting on her motorized scooter-chair outside the Whisky on the Sunset Strip late Friday night. “I was surviving. But then I heard Tim’s song and took it to heart. So now I have a list I check off when I do things like this.”

“This” was waiting on the sidewalk since 3:30 Friday afternoon to be at the head of the line for a special late-night club show that country music power couple McGraw and wife Faith Hill were doing after the second of their three big Staples Center concerts.

Smith, 67, was part of a group of seven women who became friends through McGraw fan club Internet discussions. The youngest, 22-year-old grad student Colleen McGuirk, had flown in from New York for the Staples run. The group scored prime position in front of the club’s entrance.

McGuirk and Shawna Rousseau of Orange County had actually been there for more than 36 hours to ensure a prime spot for the show, which fan-club members had been alerted to just days before.

The event served as a benefit for the Neighbor’s Keeper Foundation, the star duo’s effort now geared toward relief for the Gulf region affected by Hurricane Katrina last year.

So it was quite fitting that Smith was later able to give McGraw a boost as well -- literally. When at 1 a.m. a grinning McGraw sauntered down the stairs at the back of the club and strolled through the giddy fans, Smith offered the seat of her scooter, parked at the front of the stage, as a step for the singer.

It was the perfect start for what proved to be a charmingly casual, personably sloppy concert by performers clearly relishing the chance to let loose in front of a few hundred hearty fans in between highly staged, hits-heavy arena dates.

The black-hatted McGraw leaped onto the stage from the scooter, grabbed an acoustic guitar while his band was still tuning behind him, heard an audience member shout “Merle!” and launched into a solo version of Merle Haggard’s wistfully resolute “The Way I Am,” despite readily admitting that he didn’t know all the words.

And that’s the way it would go for more than two hours, the stars in largely separate sets with their respective bands, running through favorite country, rock and pop covers. Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama” and Tom Petty’s “Breakdown” were among those from McGraw; Paul McCartney’s “Maybe I’m Amazed” and the Aretha Franklin hit “Think” were on Hill’s list. McGraw also mixed in new, as-yet-unreleased songs and older obscurities.

Fellow star and Hill mentor Reba McEntire did a boisterously received “special guest” appearance, the two teaming on the Everly Brothers’ “When Will I Be Loved” and McEntire’s hit “Does He Love You” (McEntire standing behind a sheepish Hill, feeding her the lyrics line by line). But Jane Park, unknown daughter of guest guitarist Walter Park, and various group members were also given time in the spotlight, the former fronting a solid version of the Band’s “The Weight.” It’s exactly the kind of thing more big-name acts ought to be doing, whether in their “real” shows or in intimate sets such as these: letting fans see what they do after hours when they’re playing the songs they used to do in tiny dives before they were famous, not worrying if they know all the words or are exactly on key.

When a fan shouted a request for “Mississippi Girl,” Hill’s over-familiar hit from last year, she replied, “Man, I want to do something fun! How about some Journey?” And that’s what the crowd got, singing along to the syrupy ‘70s pop-rock ballad “Lights.”

All that was missing was more interaction between McGraw and Hill, who shared the small stage for only a few songs. They don’t have to be George and Tammy or Dolly and Porter or Johnny and June. Heck, even Donny and Marie. But more mixing between them and the bands would give this kind of show more of an anything-can-happen sparkle. That’s a small complaint, though.

“You know,” said a still-gleaming McGraw as the clock struck 3, “this is a whole lot better than [playing for] 30,000 people.”