Mainstream country audiences make it perfectly clear what they expect from their stars. They want good songs sung well by entertainers with positive public images, and they want to hear them on the radio.

Thursday at the Post-Gazette Pavilion, Alan Jackson made it equally clear that he's still able to provide all of the above. But perhaps the reason Jackson has won so many industry awards -- he's quipped that he's embarrassed to accept any more -- is that he so overwhelmingly exceeds those expectations.

Audiences may not always care who wrote their favorite songs, but Nashville keeps close tabs. Jackson wrote or co-wrote many of his string of country hits that stretch back to 1989. So when he took Thursday's crowd on a honky-tonk ride with fun foot-stompers like "Chattahoochee," or wooed them with "Remember When," he was sharing something of himself, a nuance that came across in the performance.

Country fans also find security in numbers, however, and Jackson's recent lapse in radio presence was reflected at the box office. Fewer than 10,000 showed up at a venue that prides itself on a high number of 20,000-ticket sellouts.

Nevertheless, Jackson seemed less stoic this time through town, more willing to shed the Marlboro Man demeanor and interact with the crowd. With his nine-piece band The Strayhorns vamping on several walk-offs, he paced the lip of the stage tossing out guitar picks and signing anything handed to him. Five big screens projected the same song videos and family scrapbook photos that accompanied Jackson's 2004 tour, and it seemed a little weird to see images of Jimmy Buffett singing along to "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere" without an audio track. Eastern Pennsylvania fiddler Dan Kelly, who spent some time in Pittsburgh, sawed through a breakneck breakdown. And maybe it means nothing at all, but this year only a few Bics lighted the lawn when Jackson sang his poignant Sept. 11 tribute, "Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning."

After an hour, Jackson left the stage and returned with his cover of K.C. Douglas' "Mercury Blues." The encore was a 10-minute take on one song bookended with Jackson's vocals and including terse solos from each band member and lots more vamping as the star signed countless autographs. On balance Jackson offered more personal insight to his Pittsburgh fans but a little less stage time and a rerun of the accessories.

Sara Evans' middle set proved that the one-time child singer has the pipes and the songs to survive in this business. The crowd recognized her bouncy hit "Suds in the Bucket," but some of her self-written songs, including the smart ballads "Perfect" and "Born to Fly," were equally impressive.

Evans showcased several tunes from an upcoming CD that could bump her up to headliner status. Keep your ears open for "When You Were Cheatin'," a country-to-the-bone ballad that could have been a Nashville hit any time in the last four decades.

Husband-and-wife team The Wrights opened with a fun little set. Their self-penned duet "On the Rocks," recalling their first year of marriage, was a call-and-snarky-response rocker that brought to mind Cash and Carter's classic "Jackson," but without the hardcore country groove.