FORT WORTH - Gary Morris' Christmas shows aren't exactly big holiday concert productions with decorated Christmas trees and fake snow in the background.

His pre-Thanksgiving homecoming show Wednesday at Bass Performance Hall was characteristically informal, laid-back and low-tech.

Morris grew up in Fort Worth and topped country music charts in the 1980s with spirited songs like Headed for a Heartache and Velvet Chains. In the mid-'90s he starred on Broadway as Jean Valjean in Les Miserables, and today he splits his time performing music, producing and writing for TV projects and operating a sports lodge in Colorado.

Morris' son Matt Morris is a talented young man with a bright future of his own. We're lucky to get to see him perform every year along with his father at holiday time.

As is his custom, Gary Morris appeared onstage long before the rest of the band, to form a bond with the crowd, say a few hellos and trade a few jibes. His hair is silver; his loose warm-up suit is gray.

It's always a calming experience to sit in a comfortable seat and hear Morris perform his early hits with just a guitar for accompaniment. Songs like Faded Blue, Leave Me Lonely and Bed of Roses have lost none of their appeal.

Newer material is nice, too, off his self-produced 2001 album Lone Star Knight. Love's Amazing Grace and How Promises Go fit in with the mood of the vintage stuff.

It wasn't all sweet, though. Someone came up from the crowd to help Morris perform the deliciously vindictive kiss-off tune Voodoo Doll off the new album, one of the show's lighter moments.

Matt Morris performed his own mini-set, including tunes off an upcoming self-produced album called Unspoken. His vocals reflect an inherited gift of resonance, although his style is more urban and smoothly contemporary, with a unique phrasing.

The Christmas segment after intermission, while lovely, wasn't as inspiring as a soaring ensemble gospel set of The Old Rugged Cross, How Great Thou Art, In the Garden and He's Got the Whole World in His Hands.

Best of the holiday material was My Son, My Son, a beautiful carol told from Mary's point of view that was the centerpiece of the Morrises' holiday album, My Son, Your Christmas.

Most-asked question in Gary Morris' autograph line after the show?

Probably, "Why didn't you do Bring Him Home?" the show-stopper from Les Mis, which seemed like a sure-shot encore that was apparently felled by lack of time before the appointed 10:15 p.m. closing.