Gilmore, Band Offer Blend of Earthy Rock and Quiet Beauty

Jimmie Dale Gilmore has built a substantial reputation in the roots-music world by singing about such literally insubstantial things as spiritual aspirations and philosophic quests. But that was some pretty substantial stuff the skinny, 51-year-old Texan and his robust young band laid down on Wednesday at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano--as in chunky, solid, meaty music with a palpable, rocking kick.

Best of all, the hefty numbers didn’t intrude upon Gilmore’s famous ethereal loveliness. This is a man whose parables can flutter toward the great beyond in a voice that’s like a cross between Willie Nelson and a seraph.

In a well-balanced show that included every song from his strong new album, “Braver Newer World,” the surprisingly earthy heft of the rockers complemented songs that distilled moments of contemplative beauty and quiet yearning.

Sparse rhythms and such touches as fuzz-tone guitar evoked some of the feel of the highly textured album, which has marked a sonic departure for Gilmore. But some material worked better on stage, where it flew free from the gauzy netting that almost stifles the album versions.

An extremely likable and sweet-natured host, Gilmore clearly enjoyed playing to his Zen Cowboy image. “This is a blues song and a rock song and a country song and a folk song and a grunge song,” he explained with sunny gentleness as he introduced “Buckskin Stallion Blues,” a Townes Van Zandt song he recorded with the Seattle rock band Mudhoney. “It’s every song in one. It’s mainly a beautiful song. Now it’s a loud song. But you can hear the silence in it if you listen real closely.”

As the band hit with a brawny, countrified throb, Gilmore’s concert gave us beauty and implied silence, but, ethereal crooner though he may be, it also showed that he can deliver a tougher sort of song in sharp, tensile tones backed with plenty of force.