LOS ANGELES -- Not content to stay at home and watch all the other summer festivals tour the American circuit this year, organizers of the annual Hootenanny festival -- the first concert of roots-based rock -- are taking the show on the road.

The powers that be are making the final moves toward turning the July 4-5 shebang -- which will feature performances by such American rock acts as X, Social Distortion, Southern Culture on the Skids, Reverend Horton Heat, the Cramps, Supersuckers and Lee Rocker -- into a 10-city trek of the Western states, joining a host of other summer package tours such as Lilith Fair, H.O.R.D.E. (Horizons of Rock Developing Everywhere) and Warped in August.

"[The Hootenanny is] the ultimate festival for American rock 'n' roll," said former Stray Cats stand-up bassist Rocker on Friday at the Mint club, where he is recording a live solo album. Rocker, who has played the Hootenanny and who has been involved in organizing the festival in previous years, added, "We're really trying to keep it broad. It's not a traditional rockabilly lineup. We've got psychobilly, swing -- it's got the big wide thing going on."

Organizers for the fourth annual edition of the festival known for its red, white and blue roots-rock edge decided that they weren't satisfied, however, with simply expanding the bill and adding a second date to the Irvine, Calif.-based Americana rock 'n' roll celebration. So, taking a lesson from the other concert festivals, which have launched elaborate summer tours with varying success, they began planning to take Hootenanny on tour as well.

The first two dates will take place at Oak Canyon Ranch in Irvine, where the festival -- originally a one-day affair -- has been held for the last three years. Hootenanny has venues reserved for the 10 additional dates, from San Diego to Seattle and back down to Dallas, with capacities ranging from 4,000 to 6,000. No venues have been confirmed yet.

Over its three-year history, the Hootenanny festival has sold approximately 12,000 tickets. The first show this year has already sold out and organizers expect to do equally as well throughout the West.

Of Hootenanny's grass-roots success, founder Bill Hardie said, "We kept expanding it more and more. It went from being the Cramps and Reverend Horton Heat and the Blasters to bringing in Jerry Lee Lewis and Chuck Berry, and this year, including all these bands that just happen to be around."

"We just try to bring it all together -- Americana music," Hardie said. "In 1996, we did Jerry Lee Lewis and Social Distortion on the same stage, which is kind-of unheard of. But at the same time, if you think about it, it makes sense -- to kind- of merge the old roots-rockabilly with the counter-cultures that it spawned."

Rocker and Hardie also assembled the first Hootenanny Compilation, a 16-song album featuring previous recorded songs from this year's performers, including "The Stage" (X), "Baby I'm Drunk" (Reverend Horton Heat) and "Love- A-Rama" (Southern Culture on the Skids). Slated for a July 7 release, the album will be the first offering on Rocker and Hardie's Hootenanny Recordings, which has headquarters in Laguna Beach, Calif.

Obviously, Rocker has much more than a stand-up bass on his agenda these days. He officially launched his solo career earlier this year with the aptly titled No Cats, released on Upright Records. Rocker, who was still in his teens when the rockabilly revivalist Stray Cats bolted from the alley to the airwaves with the hit singles "Stray Cat Strut" and "Rock This Town," said that No Cats works to update his past.

In addition, Rocker's upcoming live album will be one of Hootenanny Recordings' first releases.

"I'd like to make Hootenanny Recordings to American rock 'n' roll what Sub Pop [Records] was to grunge music," he said, adding that the label's first few releases will include albums by such SoCal roots-rock artists as the Paladins, Russell Scott and Hot Rod Lincoln, the latter produced by Rocker.