Billy Joe Shaver

This country-leaning Texan has written songs about restless independence and dreams that are so rich in character and emotion that they have been recorded by everyone from Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson to Elvis Presley and the Allman Brothers Band. Yet Shaver remains largely unknown to both rock and country audiences.

MUSIC Todd Snider, the satirical troubadour known for his lyrical understanding of the great balladeers including Bob Dylan, Kris Kristofferson and Billy Joe Shaver, hits the road with countrified protest-tinged tunes from his new album, "The Excitement Plan. " El Rey Theatre, 5515 Wilshire Blvd., L.A. 8 p.m. Fri. $25. (323) 936-6400; http://www.theelrey.com.

Certain songwriters can't stand to admit that a lyric might be something other than an artifact of pure imagination and inspiration, that it might have been culled directly and unvarnished from the grit and grime of experience. Billy Joe Shaver has no problem acknowledging that he sings songs drawn from life--namely, his own. "A lot of my songs are from recall of years back.

8pm Pop Music San Diego bluegrass trio Nickel Creek shows the effect of coming of age under the influence of innovative instrumentalist such as Bela Fleck and Edgar Meyer. The group knows the importance of such standard-bearers as Bill Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs and the Stanley Brothers, but they also have a willingness, and the technique, to push the music forward with astonishing musical prowess. * Nickel Creek, Coach House, 33157 Camino Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano.

Great moments in career development, courtesy of Billy Joe Shaver: "I was out at a CBS (Records) party, at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville," recalls the colorful country music veteran. "I got up on a rail there and threatened to jump down into the lobby if (they) didn't give me a recording contract. . . . There was a bunch of people trying to save me, but I almost fell off anyway. "I got it, and it still didn't do no good, darn it. I did the best I could."

It's hard to imagine a better choice to bring country music to the new Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza than country legend, Willie Nelson. Considered by many to be one of the founding fathers of country music, Nelson has more than 100 albums to his credit. In 1992 he received the Academy of Country Music's Pioneer Award, and the following year he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

MUSIC Todd Snider, the satirical troubadour known for his lyrical understanding of the great balladeers including Bob Dylan, Kris Kristofferson and Billy Joe Shaver, hits the road with countrified protest-tinged tunes from his new album, "The Excitement Plan. " El Rey Theatre, 5515 Wilshire Blvd., L.A. 8 p.m. Fri. $25. (323) 936-6400; http://www.theelrey.com.

*** Shaver, "Victory." New West. Billy Joe Shaver teams with his guitarist-mandolinist son Eddy for an outing that's largely about a man's search for heaven--from the religious concept to the kind found in a woman's embrace to the one in the parent-child relationship. Woody Guthrie's searching folk and Johnny Cash's latter-day spiritual restlessness echo through the elder Shaver's detail-rich writing and experience-soaked vocals. Shaver plays Saturday at Jacks Sugar Shack.

Long before letterbox and John Ford put the American West on the wide screen, the Wild West was captured by photographers who turned to panorama to document the always changing landscape. "The Great Wide Open: Panoramic Photographs and Western Spaces," opening today at the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, focuses on these panoramic photographs of the trans-Mississippi West from the 1850s to the present through about 60 images by early photographers such as Carleton E.

Long before letterbox and John Ford put the American West on the wide screen, the Wild West was captured by photographers who turned to panorama to document the always changing landscape. "The Great Wide Open: Panoramic Photographs and Western Spaces," opening today at the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, focuses on these panoramic photographs of the trans-Mississippi West from the 1850s to the present through about 60 images by early photographers such as Carleton E.

*** Shaver, "Victory." New West. Billy Joe Shaver teams with his guitarist-mandolinist son Eddy for an outing that's largely about a man's search for heaven--from the religious concept to the kind found in a woman's embrace to the one in the parent-child relationship. Woody Guthrie's searching folk and Johnny Cash's latter-day spiritual restlessness echo through the elder Shaver's detail-rich writing and experience-soaked vocals. Shaver plays Saturday at Jacks Sugar Shack.

Certain songwriters can't stand to admit that a lyric might be something other than an artifact of pure imagination and inspiration, that it might have been culled directly and unvarnished from the grit and grime of experience. Billy Joe Shaver has no problem acknowledging that he sings songs drawn from life--namely, his own. "A lot of my songs are from recall of years back.

This country-leaning Texan has written songs about restless independence and dreams that are so rich in character and emotion that they have been recorded by everyone from Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson to Elvis Presley and the Allman Brothers Band. Yet Shaver remains largely unknown to both rock and country audiences.

It's hard to imagine a better choice to bring country music to the new Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza than country legend, Willie Nelson. Considered by many to be one of the founding fathers of country music, Nelson has more than 100 albums to his credit. In 1992 he received the Academy of Country Music's Pioneer Award, and the following year he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

8pm Pop Music San Diego bluegrass trio Nickel Creek shows the effect of coming of age under the influence of innovative instrumentalist such as Bela Fleck and Edgar Meyer. The group knows the importance of such standard-bearers as Bill Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs and the Stanley Brothers, but they also have a willingness, and the technique, to push the music forward with astonishing musical prowess. * Nickel Creek, Coach House, 33157 Camino Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano.

So much has been written in praise of Jimmie Dale Gilmore in the '90s that it's easy to assume he's the only overlooked Texas veteran of worth in country music. Before you buy that, check out Billy Joe Shaver, who made a rare West Coast appearance on Friday at Jacks Sugar Shack. The 53-year-old singer-songwriter has been recording since the early '70s without ever having a country hit to call his own, though his songs have been hits for everyone from Waylon Jennings to John Anderson.

Great moments in career development, courtesy of Billy Joe Shaver: "I was out at a CBS (Records) party, at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville," recalls the colorful country music veteran. "I got up on a rail there and threatened to jump down into the lobby if (they) didn't give me a recording contract. . . . There was a bunch of people trying to save me, but I almost fell off anyway. "I got it, and it still didn't do no good, darn it. I did the best I could."