Willie Nelson

Though one of his nicknames is the "Red-Headed Stranger" (after his breakthrough 1975 album), singer-songwriter Willie Nelson is a bit gray in the temples after decades of performing, and he's certainly no stranger to legions of music fans. He brings his trademark outlaw-country sound to two Southland shows this weekend. Ryan Bingham and the Dead Horses open. Santa Barbara Bowl, 1122 N. Milpas St., Santa Barbara. 7 p.m. Thurs. $53.50-$82.50. (805) 962-7411. http://www.sbbowl.com . Greek Theatre, 2700 N. Vermont Ave., L.A. 8 p.m. Fri. $39.50-$75.

Country star Willie Nelson will play a concert on April 28 to benefit the West Volunteer Fire Department in the wake of the fertilizer plant explosions in West, Texas, near his hometown, which killed at least 13 people, including five volunteer firefighters, and injured 200 earlier this week. "West is just a few miles from my hometown of Abbott,” Nelson said in a statement. “I was born and raised here and it was my backyard growing up. This is my community. These friends and neighbors have always been and are still a part of my life.

MUSIC Willie Nelson is on the road again, and this time he's taking the whole family. Willie Nelson & Family will bring the legendary country singer's greatest hits to life as well as introduce you to a slew of new tunes sure to become favorites. Pacific Amphitheater, 100 Fair Drive, Costa Mesa. 8 p.m. Fri. $30 to $70. (714) 708-1870; http://www.pacamp.com.

The day after a fertilizer plant exploded in central Texas, killing at least 11 people and injuring more than 160, country music icon Willie Nelson announced he would hold a benefit concert for the victims. Nelson was born about five miles from the site of the disaster in West, Texas.  “West has been in my backyard all my life,” Nelson tweeted Wednesday night. “My heart is praying for the community that we call home.” Nelson still keeps a house in his birthplace,  Abbott, Texas.

The day after a fertilizer plant exploded in central Texas, killing at least 11 people and injuring more than 160, country music icon Willie Nelson announced he would hold a benefit concert for the victims. Nelson was born about five miles from the site of the disaster in West, Texas.  “West has been in my backyard all my life,” Nelson tweeted Wednesday night. “My heart is praying for the community that we call home.” Nelson still keeps a house in his birthplace,  Abbott, Texas.

Willie Nelson “feels much better, and no other tour dates are being postponed” after the 79-year-old country singer skipped a performance over the weekend near Denver, his spokeswoman said Monday. He had been slated to appear at a benefit Saturday for the Dumb Friends League animal shelter, but he reportedly experienced problems related to the city's altitude, and had to cancel. He was not, however, hospitalized because of breathing difficulties, as had been widely reported, said his daughter, Amy. “The papers have apparently blown things out of proportion,” Amy Nelson told The Times on Monday.

Willie Nelson's famous face is tanned and weathered. White whiskers increasingly dominate his two-day stubble, and streaks of gray color the waist-length braid trailing down his back. The country music legend is sitting on a bench seat inside a tour bus parked behind the bullpen at Diamond Stadium in Lake Elsinore, waiting to take the stage at this, one stop on a summer tour of minor-league baseball parks with Bob Dylan and John Mellencamp. He displays a youthful vitality that many younger men would envy.

STAGE Cavalia Opening tonight, this circus-themed equestrian show features highbrow horseplay conceived by Cirque du Soleil cofounder Normand Latourelle. Cavalia's cast includes 49 horses and nearly as many human performers, among them riders, aerialists, acrobats, dancers, musicians and a vocalist. White Big Top, 777 N. Front St., Burbank. 8 p.m. $39-$199. (866) 999-8111. http://www.cavalia.net . MUSIC Dashboard Confessional Chris Carrabba made a generation of sad-panda punk kids pick up acoustics and emote from the depths of their LiveJournals a decade ago with "The Swiss Army Romance.

[ Updated at 2 p.m. Oct. 5: The 2012 Railroad Revival Tour has been canceled. Ticket holders will receive a full refund by Oct. 21.] Willie Nelson is going on the road again -- with his fans. Band of Horses , Jamey Johnson , John Reilly & Friends and other performers join him on stage next month for a series of concerts from Duluth, Ga., to Oakland. Folks can ride along on seven individual legs of the Railroad Revival Tour 2012 by buying tickets that come with a sleeping berth, concert tickets and some VIP perks, too. The private rail tour begins Oct. 19 in New Orleans and shuttles to Duluth, home of the vintage Southeastern Railway Museum (you get a private tour)

"Teatro" opens with a melancholy guitar-keyboard meditation, and the first words Nelson sings on the album are, "The sun is filled with ice and gives no warmth at all." The music might eventually thaw with the odd arrival of catchy, Caribbean-flavored percussion, but the lyrics remain preoccupied with loss, heartbreak and worse--revisiting his morbid 1965 single "I Just Can't Let You Say Goodbye," Nelson sings of killing his ex-lover.

[ Updated at 2 p.m. Oct. 5: The 2012 Railroad Revival Tour has been canceled. Ticket holders will receive a full refund by Oct. 21.] Willie Nelson is going on the road again -- with his fans. Band of Horses , Jamey Johnson , John Reilly & Friends and other performers join him on stage next month for a series of concerts from Duluth, Ga., to Oakland. Folks can ride along on seven individual legs of the Railroad Revival Tour 2012 by buying tickets that come with a sleeping berth, concert tickets and some VIP perks, too. The private rail tour begins Oct. 19 in New Orleans and shuttles to Duluth, home of the vintage Southeastern Railway Museum (you get a private tour)

Willie Nelson “feels much better, and no other tour dates are being postponed” after the 79-year-old country singer skipped a performance over the weekend near Denver, his spokeswoman said Monday. He had been slated to appear at a benefit Saturday for the Dumb Friends League animal shelter, but he reportedly experienced problems related to the city's altitude, and had to cancel. He was not, however, hospitalized because of breathing difficulties, as had been widely reported, said his daughter, Amy. “The papers have apparently blown things out of proportion,” Amy Nelson told The Times on Monday.

MUSIC Willie Nelson is on the road again, and this time he's taking the whole family. Willie Nelson & Family will bring the legendary country singer's greatest hits to life as well as introduce you to a slew of new tunes sure to become favorites. Pacific Amphitheater, 100 Fair Drive, Costa Mesa. 8 p.m. Fri. $30 to $70. (714) 708-1870; http://www.pacamp.com.

Members of the International Submarine Band chose a name for their new group that practically ensured it would never rise above cult status, and sure enough, that band disappeared with barely a trace after making a handful of recordings in the mid-1960s. But after ISB members Gram Parsons and Chris Ethridge teamed up with ex-Byrds singer and songwriter Chris Hillman and steel guitarist Pete Kleinow, the pioneering country-rock group the Flying Burrito Brothers was born and the ISB won permanent footnote status in the history of pop music.

"Storage Wars" has just lifted the door on some record ratings. The A&E reality hit about storage auctions delivered 5.1 million total viewers in its Season 2 premiere at 10:30 Wednesday night, according to the Nielsen Co. That was the second half of back-to-back premiere episodes; the first scored 4.5 million viewers. That makes it the highest-rated series telecast in A&E history. Perhaps more impressive: The hour beat original episodes of NBC's reality dating show "Love in the Wild" (4.6 million)

So, about Willie Nelson and that plea agreement he thought he had in Texas: A judge on Wednesday isn't playing ball, saying the country singer shouldn't get what she sees as special treatment regarding his marijuana-related arrest in El Paso last November. Talk about bumming that high. Prosecutors had agreed June 8 to reduce charges against Nelson, 78, and allow him to stay out of jail if he paid a $500 fine and $280 in court costs, with the judge expected to clear his record if he stayed out of trouble for 30 days.

So, about Willie Nelson and that plea agreement he thought he had in Texas: A judge on Wednesday isn't playing ball, saying the country singer shouldn't get what she sees as special treatment regarding his marijuana-related arrest in El Paso last November. Talk about bumming that high. Prosecutors had agreed June 8 to reduce charges against Nelson, 78, and allow him to stay out of jail if he paid a $500 fine and $280 in court costs, with the judge expected to clear his record if he stayed out of trouble for 30 days.

If you want to trace Nelson's early recording years, this is the next essential step. Four songs are repeated from the Liberty album, but his vocals here show more confidence and character. In such new songs as "Me and Paul" and "Healing Hands of Time," he also exhibits more range as a writer. One track here even serves as the blueprint for "Phases and Stages," the great concept album he'd later record for Atlantic Records.

He's been a drunk guitar player in "The Wedding Singer," argued over pancakes in "Fargo" and gotten beaten up by Willie Nelson and Don Johnson in "Miami Vice" (seriously!). But it's the small things that matter with Buscemi. That's why we here at The Envelope have selected his straightforward, reasoned — but expletive-laced — take on refusing to tip a waitress as Mr. Pink in Quentin Tarantino's 1992 heist film "Reservoir Dogs" as his best scene: "I'm very sorry the government taxes their tips.

STAGE Cavalia Opening tonight, this circus-themed equestrian show features highbrow horseplay conceived by Cirque du Soleil cofounder Normand Latourelle. Cavalia's cast includes 49 horses and nearly as many human performers, among them riders, aerialists, acrobats, dancers, musicians and a vocalist. White Big Top, 777 N. Front St., Burbank. 8 p.m. $39-$199. (866) 999-8111. http://www.cavalia.net . MUSIC Dashboard Confessional Chris Carrabba made a generation of sad-panda punk kids pick up acoustics and emote from the depths of their LiveJournals a decade ago with "The Swiss Army Romance.