What: A Tribute to Warren Zevon When: 8 p.m. tomorrow Where: Barns at Wolf Trap, Vienna

What: A Tribute to Warren Zevon When: 8 p.m. tomorrow Where: Barns at Wolf Trap, Vienna

In summer 1975, after kicking around the edges of the New York and Los Angeles music business for nearly a decade, a dispirited singer-songwriter named Warren Zevon retreated to Spain.

Even in self-imposed exile, he continued to write and play, with a regular gig at a small bar near Barcelona that was owned by a former mercenary. (The two worked together on a song, "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner.")

Meanwhile, Zevon's buddy Jackson Browne was back in Los Angeles, starting a fruitful recording career. He eventually lured his friend back, helped him score a deal with Asylum Records, and the pair recorded an album that would be the start of Zevon's brilliant career.

Zevon's eponymous 11-track narrative about sex, addiction and music on the seedy edges of Los Angeles was a touchstone of the singer-songwriter scene of the mid-'70s, produced by Browne and featuring cameos from members of the Eagles and Fleetwood Mac, Linda Ronstadt (who would frequently cover Zevon's material on her albums) and others.

Rhino Records, the reissue label with an archivist's attention to detail, remastered the 1976 album this month for a deluxe, two-CD set that includes a bonus disc of unreleased demos, alternative versions and live tracks.

From that initial masterwork through the numerous posthumous compilations that followed in the wake of Zevon's death from cancer in September 2003, the wider public is still learning what his peers took to heart: Zevon was a singular talent.

His life followed a narrative like many of his songs -- frequently dark, sometimes morbid, riddled with trouble, sketchy characters and substance abuse, but always retaining a sense of humanity and underlying black humor that made for a compelling musical experience.

Even as he knew he was dying, Zevon continued to write and record. Song titles such as "My Ride's Here" or "Life'll Kill Ya" proved he never lost his ability to snicker at the crueler twists of fate.

Don't expect a downbeat vibe at tomorrow's multi-act musical tribute to Zevon. Not when you have a catalogue to choose from that includes "Lawyers, Guns and Money," "Werewolves of London," "Excitable Boy" and "Poor Pitiful Me." (And there might be some sniffles at ballad time, especially "Keep Me in Your Heart.")

The number of musicians scheduled to play is almost as long as the potential set list: Jon Carroll, John Jennings, Patty Reese, the Cravin' Dogs, Little Pink, Janine Wilson, the Hanson Brothers, Mike Cotter, Billy Coulter, David Kitchen, GHZ, the Alexandria Kleztet, Bill Starks, Paper Umbrella and Rocky Roberts, with mix-and-match possibilities that could last long into the night.

Zevon's oft-quoted insight on facing death was a simple directive: "Enjoy every sandwich." And every night of music that celebrates an artist who lived life to its fullest.