POP MUSIC REVIEWS : ‘Christmas’ Concert Short on Theme

Even the most forgiving listener at the Universal Amphitheatre on Sunday must have been alarmed when headliner Joe Diffie began singing the unremarkable, cliched anthem “C-O-U-N-T-R-Y” for the fourth time. Once was more than enough.

It was for the benefit of some onstage video cameras, an intrusive presence at a charity concert billed as a “California Country Christmas,” with Diffie, Toby Keith and John Berry.

Like so much of the mainstream country music limping out of Nashville, Diffie’s other material was equally uninvolving. The singer has found success with a pleasant, easy-going manner and a capable voice suitable for bland country-rockers and ballads thick with syrup. “Prop Me Up Beside the Jukebox (If I Die)” was good for a toe-tapping chuckle on Sunday. But Diffie was hardly continuing the rugged, literate tradition of Merle Haggard with pungent lines like “I always hated math/It never did add up.”

Each of Sunday’s three acts has a new Christmas album in stores. While Diffie sang the stereotype-heavy “Leroy the Redneck Reindeer,” Keith actually found some inspiration in the holiday theme with a ballad about homeless children, and a silly rocker called “Santa’s Got a Hot Rod Sleigh.” Keith and his band played a diverting mix of country rock and forceful pop ballads, showing an occasional talent for painting a vivid scene in words.

Berry opened the show on a less festive note, performing solemn, near-operatic renditions of familiar carols.