McGraw, Hill show eclectic musical influences

Singers’ performance is love-inspired

Faith Hill and Tim McGraw present themselves as a modern husband and wife who sing country music, not as a country-music husband and wife.

The distinction became clear from the opening number of Hill and McGraw’s “Soul2Soul” tour stop at the BMO Harris Bradley Center Friday night: They performed “I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me),” a 1987 hit for Aretha Franklin and George Michael.

Hill and McGraw and their 10piece band did not attempt to take the song to the backwoods, and it would be hard to imagine the late June Carter and Johnny Cash pondering how to adapt themselves to the song or vice versa.

Its light glaze of soulfulness and creamy center of loving dedication did, however, set an appropriate tone for the remaining two hours of Hill and McGraw’s set, during which lightness and love were steady presences.

The old-time twang was less steady.

McGraw showed more affinity with traditional C&W, and not just because he always wore a cowboy hat. He recalled the open-road side of John Denver with “Shotgun Rider,” provided an almost a cappella Opry-style slice of Bruce Springsteen’s “Hungry Heart” and evoked unflashy rural values in the reflective “Humble and Kind.”

Hill, bolder of voice, was more inclined to mainstream pop. The upbeat “This Kiss” moved her closer to Shania Twain than to Miranda Lambert, and a slower straightforward tune like “I Can Feel You Breathe” could’ve played behind the romantic-consummation scene in a 1980s blockbuster.

She also went in gospel, blues and rock directions — especially when she tested herself against “Piece of My Heart.” Hill got nowhere near the gut-wrenching totality of Janis Joplin’s indelibly definitive version; she was just having fun.

When she shared the stage with McGraw, she had deeper fun.

Touching upon tracks from a forthcoming duets album, he and Hill got into their roles as former lovers in the combustible “Break First” and as romantic instructors in the earnest “Speak to a Girl.”

Yet their encore duet of an older number, “I Need You,” was their most convincing moment as a couple.

Sure, the simple ballad was preceded by a video of the two posing as if they were in a perfume ad, and they sang atop a raised portion of a stage that — with elaborate lighting, intersecting-triangle design and gauzy screens — was more spectacle than sensible.

Nevertheless, “I Need You” added a moving moment to a show that wowed a crowd filling about 90% of the seats. Hill and McGraw effectively presented their love and talent as musical entertainment.