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Where were all the cowboy hats Saturday night?

Mill Mountain Theatre regulars turned out for the opening performance of "Stand by Your Man," but country music fans seemed nowhere to be found.

Come on, people. It's a musical about the first lady of country music, the first female artist to sell a million albums, a pioneer who paved the way for all the Martina McBrides out there. Country music lovers - even those who only listen to contemporary country- have a duty to come out and pay their respects.

Besides, "Stand by Your Man" offers some of the best music to hit Roanoke this year; it's a bargain at $35.

Mill Mountain lent its stage to Encore Attractions, a touring theater company, for this musical telling of Tammy Wynette's tumultuous life. The telling starts off with Wynette, known then as Virginia Wynette Pugh, being raised by her grandparents in Mississippi.

While picking cotton on the family farm, she dreamed of a life at the Grand Ole Opry. Before she'd get there, though, she'd have a teenage marriage, three babies and then the first of four divorces.(And you thought J. Lo got around.)

By the late '60s, a producer had changed her name to Tammy, and she was a hit. Wynette married her idol George Jones; their relationship would last seven years and produce several popular duets.

By 1978, she was on her fifth marriage - to songwriter-producer George Richey - a relationship that would last the rest of her life, a life filled with numerous surgeries, an addiction to painkillers and even a famous abduction.

That's a lot of drama to squeeze in among 26 of Wynette's songs, but the cast somehow manages it - a feat no doubt helped along by the subject matter of Wynette's music, which often explored the female experience.

Opening night of "Stand by Your Man" got off to a rough start with some sour notes, but by the fifth song, "Between 29 and Danger," the audience was swept away by the mighty voice of Kristin Stewart, who plays Wynette. The New York actress shares an uncanny resemblance to the country legend and has clearly channeled Wynette's determined spirit.

Larry Tobias, as George "'Possum" Jones, makes a perfect match for Stewart. It may be difficult to get younger audiences, who know 'possum only as road kill, into Mill Mountain, but once they're there they'll go ga-ga over the hunky, slightly dangerous-looking Tobias.

As for the musical numbers, the big hits made the biggest impact with audiences. Stewart shined the entire night, but her renditions of "D-I-V-O-R-C-E" and, of course, "Stand by Your Man" stood out. Meanwhile, Tobias' out-of-control version of "The Race is On" rocked as hard as anything Jack White has ever sung.

Duets between Wynette and Jones also packed a powerful emotional punch, particularly "We're Gonna Hold On." Since the musical doesn't really capture the seedy side of what it must be like to live with someone addicted to drugs and alcohol, it's hard not to root for Wynette and Jones to stay together. On stage, they've clearly got magic. The audience wants a happy ending, but real life doesn't work that way.

No matter how good the vocalists, the songs would be nowhere without musical direction from Chris Blisset and the half-dozen musicians (as talented as any band in Nashville) who occasionally double as actors. Bassist Tobia D'Amore even manages to pull off a decent impersonation of Burt Reynolds.

Erica Livingston, like the entire cast of supporting actors, knows the material backward and forward, but never lets her performance seem stale. On the other hand, Livingston's character, a guide named Mee Maw who takes Wynette through a flashback of her life, doesn't add much to the production. Wynette's life was big enough; writer Mark St. Germain doesn't need a clumsy device like that to tell her story.

Saturday's crowd certainly didn't seem hung up on that detail, though. They delivered one of the strongest standing ovations I've ever heard at the theater.

Wynette became a legend for a reason: She had a whole lot of voice and a whole lot to say. "Stand by Your Man" perfectly captures her essence and makes for an unforgettable night of music.

"Stand by Your Man" runs through Sunday on Mill Mountain Theatre's Trinkle Main Stage. $35. 342-5740 or millmountain.org.