Talk to Willy Porter for a few minutes, and you”ll find someone who”s OK with his place in the grand scheme of things.

‘I”m really happy with where my music exists in the world,’ he says. ‘I make a living to support my family.’

Porter, an acoustic guitarist, says his philosophies have changed now that he has a 2-year-old and a 4-year-old.

‘I don”t tour for months on end like I used to,’ he says. ‘I have a couple kids I want to be around.’

Porter”s most recent album, ‘High Wire Live,’ includes a collection of his live performances. He says the experience of making a live album is humbling because a performance he thought was great wouldn”t sound as good when he listened to the recording.

‘Most artists lack a basic objectivity when it comes to their own art,’ he says.

He says performing solo has its advantages depending on the size of the venue.

‘I play a lot of 250 to 500 seat rooms,’ he says. ‘It”s really easy to let the guitar be the band.’

He says, however, he misses the company and would like to have a band at some point when it becomes economically possible.

‘There”s no replacing the human interaction that”s a really good band,’ he says.

Porter has played at the Maintenance Shop several times before, and he says the atmosphere is different than many college campuses he has played at.

‘The audiences are very respectful there,’ he says. ‘In that way it”s very different than a lot of college venues.’

Porter has toured all over the country and in Europe. He says, however, the hardest audiences he”s ever played for are those from his hometown of Milwaukee.

‘Everybody knows your trick bag,’ he says. ‘They know your sources.’

Porter says its important for musicians to use their prominence to say something worth saying.

Who: Willy Porter

Where: M-Shop

When: 8 p.m. Friday

Cost: $12 student, $15 public