Alan Jackson

You know a performer has reached the big time when between acts a caricature mascot in his image shoots T-shirts from a guitar-shaped launcher. The silent, fuzzy Alan Jackson spoke slightly less than the real thing Sunday when one of country music's biggest stars closed the Post-Gazette Pavilion's summer concert season.

"Stoic" still describes Jackson's stage demeanor, but on this trip north of the Mason-Dixon, he seemed a little more animated than usual. Backed by his nine-piece band, The Strayhorns, Jackson tore through hits dating back to 1991's "Don't Rock the Jukebox" and showcased "A Woman's Love" and the title track to last year's "Like Red on a Rose."

Early on a crisp evening, Jackson promised, in a sloppy drawl, to just play the songs "and let you all do whatever it is you want down there." The party atmosphere sizzled under the pavilion whenever the one-hour-plus set settled into familiar up-tempo boot-stompers like "Gone Country," "Little Bitty," "Summertime Blues," "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere," "Mercury Blues" and "Chattahoochee."

Hours after the first Steelers loss of the season, Jackson ad-libbed a chorus of the old Kendall's hit "Pittsburgh Stealers." And even the drunk women in the front rows stopped dirty dancing and just swayed when the lights lowered for his somber 9/11 tribute, "Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning."

Two hot bodies from the Hot Country play list opened the show. "American Idol" veteran Kellie Pickler sang from her "Small Town Girl" debut. She premiered a cute new song co-written with Taylor Swift, "The Best Days of Your Life," and posed like she must have as a girl in front of her bedroom mirror while knocking off classic country covers. Jason Michael Carroll, said one woman under the pavilion, was "H-O double T" as he brushed his long blond hair from his eyes and crooned in a deep baritone his self-written hit from this year's debut CD, "Alyssa Lies."

-- John Hayes, Post-Gazette staff writer

Chatham Baroque

An early music ensemble, Chatham Baroque often plays music that existed long before Pittsburgh was founded, but that won't stop it from celebrating the city's 250th anniversary. After all, the group took its name from the Earl. This season it performs music from the early history of some Pittsburgh ethnic groups, and it does so in fitting venues.

The ensemble will perform a Polish program at St. Stanislaus in the Strip and Jewish music at Rodef Shalom Congregation in Shadyside later in the season but will start things off with a night of "earthy and familiar Italian tunes" at the Gypsy Cafe on the South Side at 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. Friday. A Mediterranean meal is included, and tickets are $50.

Two more concerts will bring much of the same program but not the meal: 8 p.m. Saturday at Synod Hall, Oakland, and 2:30 p.m. Sunday at Calvary Episcopal Church, Shadyside. Tickets to these are $25. Baroque violinist Daniella Pearson joins Chatham Baroque for all the concerts. For tickets and information, call 412-394-3353 or 412-687-1788.

-- Andrew Druckenbrod, Post-Gazette classical music critic