Merle Haggard performs Saturday at Eastern Michigan University.

Angela Cesere | AnnArbor.com

Merle Haggard’s performance at Eastern Michigan University’s Pease Auditorium had all the trappings of a good, old-fashioned country-music revue.

In the best and worst senses of the term.

For starters, and most importantly, we should say that Haggard, at 73, performed beautifully and charmed a somewhat sparse crowd not only with his fluid guitar picking and still-fine voice, but also with the devil-may-care attitude of an original country outlaw.

With its wide-open stage and bright lighting, it was easy to imagine Pease Auditorium 50 years ago, hosting Haggard when he was in his prime and promoting one of the 28 hits he took to the top of the charts. And with opening act, the Malpass Brothers, crooning through a series of country standards backed by Haggard’s own Strangers and beer being sold in cups, it almost like a Bakersfield hootenanny.

That’s the good part. That Haggard was over and done with his 12-song, 60-minute set almost before he started was the downside.

True to the old-time country tradition of “hit it and quit it,” Haggard didn’t wear out his welcome. But while he was on stage, it was glorious, with the Hag strolling through a sampling of his greatest hits, while showcasing the best of his fine, new record, “I Am What I Am.”

“It’s nice to be here,” he joked. “But I’m not sure where I’m at.”

After starting out strong with “Silver Wheels,” Haggard never let up, infusing hits like “Mama Tried,” “Tonight the Bottle Let Me Down,” “Big City” and “Okie From Muskogee” with healthy doses of humor and pathos, as well as some of the bestTelecaster picking we’ve heard in a while.

Yes, Merle Haggard plays all his own guitar leads — and he killed each and every one, thanks to a fluid picking style and a dancing left hand that provided plenty of tremelo. He also played some hot fiddle and served as bandleader, directing traffic to make sure everyone in the the six-piece Strangers got their due attention.

And then there’s the voice. You would never know that Haggard came out on top of a battle with lung cancer just a year ago; his voice still has all the clarity and rich bottom end it had in the 1960s.

He even used that fact as a way to point a good-natured jab at his old pal and singing partner, Willie Nelson.

“Me and Ray Price are the only ones out here trying to do our songs in the (same) keys,” he bragged. “Even Willie changes keys.”

Nor has neither time or age dulled Haggard’s famously no-nonsense opinions. “What’s gong on with this (gosh-darn) country, anyways?” he asked. “Do we have to march on the White House or something?”

Of course Haggard could have been on stage all night and never run out of songs to sing. But when the lights came up after a gorgeous reading of the new record’s title track — no encore, no curtain call after 60 minutes on stage — it all seemed a little short.

On the other hand, the Hag had already sung pretty much all there was to say already.