CountryUnless you have access to powers beyond...

Country

Unless you have access to powers beyond mortal ken, you’re never going to see Hank Williams perform. Wayne Hancock may be the best substitute available.

This 30-year-old Texan not only has mastered the yodel and twang of the most traditional forms of honky-tonk music, but there’s also something wild and untamed in his voice that goes far beyond mimicry and reveals something a little unsettling but fascinating of his own. Hancock arrives with fine credentials at the Swallow’s Inn and Linda’s Doll Hut. Anyone who loves country music, circa 1950, shouldn’t miss him.

* Who: Wayne Hancock.

* When: 4-9 p.m. Sunday, 9 p.m. Monday.

* Where: Sunday at the Swallow’s Inn, 31786 Camino Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano; Monday at Linda’s Doll Hut, 107 S. Adams St. (at Manchester), Anaheim.

* Whereabouts: Swallow’s: Exit the San Diego (405) Freeway at Ortega Highway (74); go west to Camino Capistrano, then turn left. Doll Hut: Exit the Santa Ana (5) Freeway at Lincoln Avenue; go west to Manchester, then left.

* Wherewithal: Admission free at Swallow’s, $5 at Doll Hut.

* Where to call: Swallow’s: (714) 493-3188; Doll Hut: (714) 533-1286.

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Theater

Visit the brig Pilgrim in Dana Point harbor Friday night, and you’ll be in distinguished company. The guest of honor: Richard Henry Dana, seaman, lawyer and author of the classic, “Two Years Before the Mast,” a chronicle of his journey from Boston to California aboard the Pilgrim in the 1830s.

In Daniel Trent’s 70-minute show of the same name actor Jeffrey Paul Whitman plays Dana and a half dozen other characters from the book.

* What: “Two Years Before the Mast.”

* When: 6:30 and 8:30 p.m. Friday. Performances continue July 27 and Aug. 3, 10 and 16.

* Where: On board the Pilgrim at the Orange County Marine Institute, 24200 Dana Point Harbor Drive, Dana Point.

* Whereabouts: Exit the San Diego (405) Freeway at Pacific Coast Highway (1); go west. Turn left onto Dana Point Harbor Drive.

* Wherewithal: $15 for children under 12; $20 for adults.

* Where to call: (714) 496-2274. Reservations required.

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Kid Stuff

There will be lots for audiences to cheer in a free program this weekend at the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

The musical ode to radio features high-school-age performers, many of them recovering from substance abuse, who are graduates of Summer at the Center, a program founded by the late Maurice Allard to introduce youngsters to the performing arts. Led by artistic director Kevyn Brackett, the youths will perform a Broadway-style revue that illustrates the history of radio from the 1920s to present.

* What: Summer at the Center youth recital.

* When: 7 p.m. Friday, 2 and 5 p.m. Saturday.

* Where: Founders Hall at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa.

* Whereabouts: Exit the San Diego (405) Freeway at Bristol Street; go north. Turn right onto Town Center Drive.

* Wherewithal: Free.

* Where to call: (714) 556-2122, Ext. 236. Reservations suggested.

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Blues

Thirty years after he emerged from New York City as part of the ‘60s folk boom, John Hammond well may be the preeminent acoustic blues guitarist of his generation, a near-to-last link with the traditional music of the Mississippi delta whose sound is nonetheless as immediate and jolting as a shot of rye whiskey. Hammond has worked with everyone from Jimi Hendrix and Bill Wyman to Duke Robillard and the Fabulous Thunderbirds, but he is never more riveting than when he plays solo, as he will in San Juan Capistrano on Friday night.

* Who: John Hammond.

* When: 7 and 9 p.m. Friday.

* Where: San Juan Capistrano Regional Library, 31495 El Camino Real.

* Whereabouts: Exit the San Diego (405) Freeway at Ortega Highway; go west. Turn right onto El Camino Real.

* Wherewithal: $6; $3 for ages 12 and under.

* Where to call: (714) 248-7469.