Sara Evans, Phil Vassar and Carolyn Dawn Johnson warmed up a young and near sold-out audience at the Show Me Center Friday night with pounding, energetic music that demonstrated how hybridized country music has become -- "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" notwithstanding.

They were the opening acts on headliner Kenny Chesney's No Shirt, No Shoes, No Problem Tour. Chesney went on stage too late for his performance to be reviewed.

Dressed in a white suit, the striking Evans showed why she has become one of country music's divas. Her set suffered somewhat from a muddy bass, but her keening voice rang clear, and the songs she sang were heartfelt.

One of the high points of her set was "Saints and Angels," a stirring tune about fallen angels who find grace in each others' arms.

Evans, who was born near Boonville, Mo., sang a bluegrass song for her parents, who were in the audience Friday night, and her first hit, "No Place That Far," a smitten love song written for her husband.

She ended with the uplifting sentiments of "Born to Fly."

Both Evans and Vassar and to some extent Johnson demonstrated how far down the rock road country music has gone. Evans went back to the '80s to snag the Go-Gos hit "We Got the Beat," and Vassar played a driving version of Huey Lewis and the News' "Workin' for a Living."

Using a baby grand piano as both a musical instrument and a dance floor, the high-energy Vassar had the audience on its feet and singing along through most of his set. Wearing a sleeveless cowboy shirt with red embroidered roses, Vassar charged from one side of the stage to the other. "Just Another Day in Paradise," his No. 1 hit, was a crowd-pleaser, and when he sang "My Next 30 Years," a song recorded by Tim McGraw, the audience was with him word for word.

"Six Pack Summer" is a Vassar song that evokes carefree memories of youth. "Turn your radio up as loud as it can go," he sang, then segued into the old rock 'n' roll hit "Stay."

Vassar made people in the Show Me Center very happy.

Johnson demonstrated an amiable stage personality and is one of the few female country singers who plays guitar on stage. She started the evening with a five-song set that touched all of the bases in her relatively short career, including "Georgia," "Complicated" and her new single, the rocking "I Don't Want You to Go." It's a song about not wanting a night to end, something the audience could identify with.

sblackwell@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182