King keeps country honest

They call him "King George" Strait, and rightfully so.

The country star was unaffectedly regal, gracefully acknowledging the adoration of his fans Saturday night at the Wachovia Center, through almost two hours and 27 songs from his 29-album career - plus the new single "I Saw God Today" off the forthcoming

Troubadour

.

In black hat, crisp pink dress shirt and creased jeans, the 55-year-old Texan contributed acoustic guitar to his 12-piece Ace in the Hole Band at the two-thirds-full concert, as he consistently crooned one lyrically insightful tune after another in the same understated tone.

It was pleasingly Strait stuff all right, building cumulative appreciation for the guy's deep, award-winning catalog as one increasingly noticed the rich detail he brought across in songs documenting love found and lost, personal epiphanies, even metaphysical verities.

Merle Haggard's 1974 goldie "Seashores of Old Mexico," Webb Pierce's timeless "There Stands the Glass" (memorably covered in 2006 by Van Morrison at the Wachovia Spectrum) and, of course, Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues" were all welcome covers, as was Strait's home-state homage "Texas" - even when the line "There wouldn't be no Alamo (nor) no Cowboys in the Super Bowl" produced a good-natured chorus of loud boos from the Eagles faithful.

Animated Kentucky singer-songwriter Sarah Johns and band got an opening half-hour to showcase her 2007 debut album - evoking a tender/tough-gal persona a la Gretchen Wilson - as well as to touch on an influence, with a less-covered 1962 Patsy Cline hit, "She's Got You."

Another opener, the ascendent Little Big Town, made much of their 10 songs, spotlighting the signature male/female vocal harmonies of principals Phillip Sweet, Jimi Westbrook, Karen Fairchild and Kimberly Roads Schlapman amid their catchy country-pop-rock fare. The indisputable Fleetwood Mac feel of songs like "Fine Line" off their recent third album,

A Place to Land

, and the older "Bones" (recalling Fleetwood's "The Chain") was an easy call, even if you didn't know LBT was paired with Mac singer-guitarist Lindsey Buckingham on Country Music Television's

Crossroads

in 2006.

They confirmed the connection by confidently rocking Fleetwood Mac's "Go Your Own Way" as their penultimate number. Other stylistic nods included, by golly, '70s Brit rockers Bad Company, whose "Shooting Star" was conjured up by Little Big Town's folkier "A Little More You."