SAN FRANCISCO--Many a quiet singer-songwriter has run the risk of being drowned out by crowd noise--folksy nuance is often no match for the idle chatter of the masses.

Jose Gonzalez

Although the 500-plus crowd at the Great American Music Hall seemed deafening during Tiny Vipers' stirring yet woefully underappreciated opening set Monday night, headliner Jose Gonzales brought the crowd to a hush and had it hanging on his every word for nearly an hour.

On a bare, low-lit stage, Gonzalez's skilled guitar playing and easy-on-the-ears voice did the heavy lifting. But the set was even more noteworthy for its economy. Not a finger went unused on the guitar and not a note was wasted, leaving even the fence sitters in the crowd firmly in his grasp.

Jose Gonzalez

On "In Our Nature," Gonzalez showed that bluntness can come wrapped in a veil of subtlety. His lyrics were as openly antiwar as it gets: "It's in our nature. Put down your sword. Send home your dogs." But his voice stayed away from the shrillness or self-righteous tone that often accompanies such sentiments.

Gonzalez sprinkled tracks from both his 2006 debut, Veneer and his new album, In Our Nature, which hit stores last month, as well as inspired covers like Kylie Minogue's "Hand on Your Heart" and Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart," the night's closer.

The highlight was "Deadweight on Velveteen," a song in which Gonzalez plays down activities occurring between the sheets: "It's not what it seems/Vulgar when brought to light/Betray the image/There's nothing between the sheets/It's not what it seems/But deadweight on velveteen."