Johnny Mathis

During the course of an extraordinary evening, Mathis took calls from his legions of fans, including Nancy Reagan.

At 74, Mathis still makes [singing] seem effortless, as he does on "Let It Be Me: Mathis in Nashville", a collection of country songs now custom-tailored to suit Mathis. Apart from the handful of songs written later -- and not too much later, either, as Allen Toussaint penned "Southern Nights" in 1975 -- "Let It Be Me" sounds as if it could have easily been released in the early '60s when Mathis was a regular fixture in the charts (indeed, the album...