I’m from a generation that never really believed that Tammy Wynette’s hit song “Stand By Your Man” offered very sound advice. But there was something about watching Tammy, draped in a pink sequined gown and glowing in a light show at the Maine Center for the Arts last night that made a shiver run down my spine. I recognized that her song and her singing tell the stories of a generation that really believed in love and in commitment.

With her seven-piece band, Tammy entertained a near full house who greeted her with loving cheers when she walked onto the stage in a black velvet skirt outfit with silver sequins. Her first set of songs included several singles and a medley of her hits from the 1960s such as “Apartment No. 9,” “Your Good Girl’s Gonna Go Bad” and “D-I-V-O-R-C-E.”

Then Tammy took a seat on stage and told the audience about how and why she writes songs. She sees topics for songs on billboards, or on television, or in the lives of those around her, she said. But mostly her songs come from personal experiences.

“Most people say I don’t write happy songs,” she said. “Well, I’ve written a few. But I’ve written a whole lot when I was mad, too.”

Her favorite song from personal experiences, she told the audience, is “Till I Can Make It on My Own,” which she sang while sitting alone in one brilliant spotlight.

She picked up the pace a bit with a rowdy rendition of “Rocky Top, Tennessee,” and then left the stage to her backup vocalists, Yvonne Jordan, Sue Richards and Charlie Carter, each of whom sang a solo.

Tammy returned shortly, this time garbed in an aqua sequined pants suit. During this set, she sang both early songs and one from her most recent record, released last year. (She’s working on her 52nd album.)

When she left the stage for the third time, her banjo player and fiddle player enacted a silly, humorous battle of the instruments that culminated in a lively version of “Dueling Banjos.”

Then Tammy, this time in pink, and her female vocalists sang three gospel songs accompanied only by a guitar. Their voices harmonized beautifully, and this set was the highlight of the show.

And, of course, this is when Tammy sang “Stand By Your Man,” which quickly brought the audience to its feet with joyous gratitude and love for the First Lady of Country Music. I’m still dubious of her message in “Stand By Your Man,” which, by the way, is the biggest-selling single in the history of country music. But nobody sings it as convincingly as Tammy.