Saturday 4 P.M. DON’T MISS Eric Church. (left) A savvy writer out of North Carolina, Church is also an engaging singer whose songs take on the kinds of subjects country once dealt with routinely but rarely ventures into these days. Expect him to delve into his first-rate debut album “Sinners Like Me” — songs like “Two Pink Lines,” a good-humored tale of a couple fretting over the results of a home pregnancy test, and “Lightning,” a riveting ballad set on death row. (Mane Stage, 3:55-4:45)
ALSO Waddie Mitchell. A cowboy poet who started out as a real cowboy, working a horse ranch in Elko, Nev., Mitchell was one of the organizers of the annual Elko Cowboy Poetry Gathering.(Mustang Stage, 3:55-4:55)(Evan Agostini/Getty Images)
2/10
Saturday 5 P.M. DON’T MISS Raul Malo. See “Critic’s Pick.” (Palomino Stage, 4:50-5:40) Miranda Lambert. See “Critic’s Pick.” (Mane Stage, 5:10-5:55)
CATCH IT IF YOU CAN Nickel Creek. (left) This off-the-chart bluegrass trio from San Diego is going on indefinite hiatus after this year so its members — Chris Thile, and siblings Sara and Sean Watkins — can explore solo projects. Not that being in the group ever felt limiting, given their tendency to reinvent sounds as varied as Bach and Radiohead in a folk-jazz-bluegrass vein. (Appaloosa Stage, 4:50-5:40)
ALSO Red Steagall. Nice résumé: He’s been named the official cowboy poet of both Texas and San Juan Capistrano, has written more than 200 songs and helped launch Reba McEntire on her stellar career after hearing her sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” at a rodeo in Oklahoma.(Mustang Stage, 5:10-6:10)(John Russell/AP Photo)
3/10
Sunday 7 P.M. DON’T MISS Willie Nelson. (left) The Red Headed Stranger is caught up in so many extracurricular activities these days — promoting biodiesel transportation, lobbying against horses being turned into dog food, forgetting not to inhale when the doobie passes — that one can lose track of what he does best: write music with uncommon perception and sing it with an unpredictable phrasing more reminiscent of Louis Armstrong than Hank Williams.(Palomino Stage, 7:15-8:15)
ALSO The John Cowan Band. One of the founders of the “newgrass” movement, Cowan was the lead singer of the New Grass Revival, which also included Sam Bush and Béla Fleck. His mission, as Cowan has stated, remains simple: “to take acoustic music somewhere new.”(Appaloosa Stage, 7:35-8:35)(Tim Larsen / AP)
4/10
Saturday 10 P.M. DON’T MISS Neko Case. The acclaimed independent-rock singer-songwriter ventures far and wide in musical style, but she’s always retained an edge of the country music that she listened to as a child.(Palomino Stage, 9:45-10:35 p.m.)(Richard Hartog / LAT)
5/10
Friday 1 P.M. CATCH IT IF YOU CAN Carolyn Dawn Johnson. (left)Yes, she wrote Chely Wright’s 1999 hit “Single White Female” and toured as a backup singer for Martina McBride, but the Alberta, Canada, native is an appealing performer in her own right, one who knows her way around real emotion.(Mane Stage, 1:45-2:20)
ALSO Roger Alan Wade. The humorist has written songs recorded by Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson, but is best known for his novelty hit “If You’re Gonna Be Dumb,” off “Jackass: The Music, Vol. 1.” The connection? Wade’s cousin is “Jackass” star Johnny Knoxville.(Mustang Stage, 1-1:30) Wreck N Sow.(Appaloosa Stage, 1:30-2:30)(Peter Kramer/Getty Images)
6/10
Sunday 2 P.M. CATCH IT IF YOU CAN Jason Aldean. (left) The 30-year-old singer-songwriter from Macon, Ga., is about to release his second major-label album, “Relentless,” later this month. It’s off to a strong start with the rebellious lead single “Johnny Cash.”(Mane Stage, 2:40-3:30)
ALSO Cowboy Celtic. Alberta, Canada-reared mandolinist David Wilkie and his band mates seek the connection between music of the American prairie and that of the British Isles.(Mustang Stage, 1:45-2:30) Railbenders. The Denver-based country rock band includes Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train” among its inspired cover tunes.(Palomino Stage, 2:30-3:15)(Evan Agostini/Getty Images)
7/10
Sunday 3 P.M. DON’T MISS John Doe. (left) Yes, he still plays with X from time to time, and with the rootsy-country side project the Knitters. But this seminal figure from the L.A. late-’70s punk scene is also about to release a new solo CD, “A Year in the Wilderness,” which is getting great early buzz as an album that delivers on Doe’s considerable solo potential.(Palomino Stage, 3:35-4:20)
CATCH IT IF YOU CAN Don Edwards. Edwards’ expertise not just as singer of cowboy music but as a keeper of its lore and traditions helped land him a role in Robert Redford’s “The Horse Whisperer.” (Mustang Stage, 2:45-3:35) Abigail Washburn with the Sparrow Quartet. See “Critic’s Pick.”(Appaloosa Stage, 2:40-3:30)(Evan Agostini/Getty Image)
8/10
Sunday 6 P.M. DON’T MISS Kris Kristofferson. (left) Movie stardom overtook his music career in the ‘70s, but the onetime Rhodes Scholar still knows his way around a guitar and a lyric. He has a knack for peering into the hidden corners of the heart. (Palomino Stage, 5:55-6:45) The Flatlanders. The pre-solo fame band from West Texas started in the ‘70s by Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Butch Hancock has been resurrected three decades later to great success. But, then, with those three names in a sentence, our work is done. (Appaloosa Stage, 6:25-7:15)
CATCH IT IF YOU CAN Garrison Keillor. This proud Minnesotan (whose “A Prairie Home Companion” made it to the big screen last year) is at his best in front of a live audience, playing raconteur and fitful folk-country singer.(Mustang Stage, 6:20-7:20)
ALSO Sugarland. Once a trio, now a duo centered around the idiosyncratic vocals of Jennifer Nettles, Sugarland plays up Nettles’ tough-as-nails attitude — sometimes at the expense of a multidimensional sound. (Mane Stage, 6:35-7:35)(Hana Kalvachova / EPA)
9/10
Sunday 7 P.M. DON’T MISS Emmylou Harris. (left) See First lady of country(Palomino Stage, 7:15-8:15)
CATCH IT IF YOU CAN The Del McCoury Band. Bluegrass as it was played on the radio in the ‘40s, with a circle of exceptional musicians huddled around a single microphone. The band specializes in the ultra-traditional sound that’s been echoing through the mountains for a century or more — that is until McCoury decides to throw in a left-field version of a Tom Petty song.(Appaloosa Stage, 7:40-8:30) Asleep at the Wheel. The Texas ensemble fronted by long, tall New Jerseyite Ray Benson keeps the Bob Wills Western swing tradition gloriously alive with this sprightly country big band.(Mustang Stage, 7:40-8:30)(Robert Lachman / LAT)
10/10
Sunday 9 P.M. DON’T MISS Ricky Skaggs. One of the legions of extraordinary musicians who used the springboard of Emmylou Harris’ Hot Band to launch considerable solo careers, Skaggs helped usher in the early ‘80s “new traditionalist” movement in country. When that gave way to Garth Brooks and Shania Twain in the ‘90s, Skaggs returned to his bluegrass roots — and a virtual gold mine of Grammy Awards. (Appaloosa Stage, 8:50-9:40)
CATCH IT IF YOU CAN Kenny Chesney. (left) The big surprise about the failure of his marriage to Renée Zellweger wasn’t that it dissolved under the bright light of public scrutiny, but that the guy who always knows the right thing to sing to his largely female fan base apparently couldn’t find the right words to hold onto the one he married. His fans, who keep turning out for his tours in record numbers, don’t seem to hold it against him.(Mane Stage, 9:30-11)(Mark Humphrey / AP)
