From the time LeAnn Rimes took the stage at Forest Hills Fine Arts Center, pleading to somebody, anybody, to “Help Me Make It Through the Night,” the crowd was all in, completely convinced by every aching, plaintive bar of music.

The 1970 tune, made more beseeching still by the sad twang of the steel guitar, was a showcase for Rimes’ astonishing voice, a throaty, rich instrument of storytelling and emotion.