Vince Gill’s extra effort is enthusiastically received

Vince Gill made it tough to figure out Sunday at the Wiltern LG which recent career move is more mind-boggling: his release of a four-CD set containing 43 new songs or his decision to include more than half of them in one three-hour, boundary-leaping concert.

The 17-time Grammy winner may have thought he was putting fans’ patience to the test by building a show around songs from that quadruple album, “These Days,” which has been out less than a month. But with the hooting and hollering from the packed house, there was never a feeling that listeners were politely biding their time until the next hit from his extensive repertoire. Good thing, since he included so few of them.

As always, the amiable singer, songwriter and guitarist was a gracious, self-effacing host. He tossed out four hits at the outset, then locked his gaze forward, coursing through the new album’s four themed components, starting with the traditional country material.

The show, which never felt long, moved into a ballad-heavy section that celebrated his soaring tenor (“I live in a very nice house because I sing like a girl, and I’m OK with that,” he quipped at one point). That gave way to a sprightly bluegrass segment and concluded with an up-tempo batch of songs mostly from the rock-driven CD.

Most songs on “These Days” feature guest duet partners, but except for a two-song appearance by Amy Grant, Gill’s wife, he handled everything himself. Well, except for the herculean assistance of a 16-member band that jumped seamlessly from old-school bluegrass to honky-tonk to tasty jazz to juicy R&B; to explosive rock.

His songs sometimes reveal more journeyman craftsmanship than artistic genius, but the common thread demonstrated Sunday was Gill’s soul-deep passion for making music. Nothing mind-boggling about that.