Gayle brings the holidays to life in Orono concert

There couldn’t have been any Scrooges left by 9 p.m. Sunday in the Hutchins Concert Hall.

That’s when Crystal Gayle’s holiday show in front of a capacity crowd at the Maine Center for the Arts reached its end. Amidst the overkill of commercialism these days, it’s refreshing to find someone like Gayle who still believes in the spirit of Christmas.

Before the show began, there was already a hint of things to comes, with figures of wooden soldiers, holly, a caroler and a candle lined with Christmas bulbs around the stage.

The curtain arose to reveal a stage festooned with red ribbons and poinsettias, a Christmas tree and more colorful silhouettes of Santa and his reindeer, a train, a teddy bear, candy canes and an airplane.

Kicking things off was Gayle’s six-piece band, who played with uptempo, instrumental versions of “Sleigh Ride” and God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.”

Gayle entered the festivities next, garbed in a long black dress with gold sequins, her trademark black hair just clearing the ground. She opened with “Let It Snow,” as artificial snow flurried behind the bandstand.

Throughout the 1-hour, 40-minute, two-set concert, Gayle and her band played dozens of holiday melodies. Among the highlights were a rocking country version of “Silver Bells” and her duet with the multitalented Blue Jay Patton, “Special Kind of Christmas,” which marked Gayle’s reappearance in the second act.

Gayle also performed some non-holiday songs, including her hits “Don’t It Make Your Brown Eyes Blue” and “Talking In Your Sleep” and a spirited medley of “I Saw the Light,” “I’ll Fly Away” and “Jesus on the Main Line.” The only problem was that those songs appeared unannounced in the midst of all the holiday cheer, making for a jarring transition.

After “There’s No Place Like Home for the Holidays,” Gayle reminisced about Christmas with her seven brothers and sisters (including Loretta Lynn). She told about saving her pennies to pay for her sisters’ hair nets for Christmas. “They were gray, because I thought that was the prettiest color,” she recalled.

Gayle gave members of her group ample opportunities to show off their talents. The standout was Patton, who played soprano, alto and tenor sax, mandolin and rhythm guitar as well as dueting with Gayle and soloing on “I’ve Got Your Love to Keep Me Warm.”

Buddy Spiker was an exceptional fiddler, and also served as comic relief, with a handful of “Hee Haw”-caliber jokes. An example: “I just got back from a pleasure trip. I took my mother-in-law to the airport” (rimshot).

Jim Ferguson stepped out from behind his bass to showcase his baritone voice on “O Holy Night” and “An Old-Fashioned Christmas.”

But the star was Gayle. Whether telling stories, singing songs of the season, or restyling her hits, the songstress kept the Orono crowd enthralled.