Kimya Dawson is feeling pretty good about herself and her newest album.

Dawson, a solo artist and co-founder of the Moldy Peaches, will be in Ames on Sunday as she tours in support of her fourth solo album, “Hidden Vagenda.” She says the tour has improved the success of the album.

“It has gotten a really good response so far,” Dawson says. “And the tour’s going well too. We’ve had some shows with a lot of people.”

Dawson says her music falls into the category of anti-folk. Rather than being the opposite of folk, as the name suggests, anti-folk more closely sounds like early folk music.

Dawson says anti-folk was originally a reactionary movement to the hokiness of folk music in the late ’70s and early ’80s.

“Anti-folk is more of a community than a genre,” she says. “There’s a couple places in New York that are really the center for it, like the Sidewalk Caf‚. But the music scene there is really transient. A lot of people move through. A lot of people who really have music in their soul aren’t always the most stable people.”

Dawson says she feels disconnected from that scene right now, since she has been on the road so much lately. After her album’s release on Oct. 5, she flew from New York back to Los Angeles to pick up her car and was on the road again.

Dawson says she draws inspiration for her music from her own life.

“It’s not just the bad, but the good too,” she says. “Everything really. A lot of it is just how I see the world … just my reactions.”

The result is music that she describes as sad, vulnerable, silly, contemplative, tender and raw. Dawson says her lyrics have drawn comparisons from many critics — not to another songwriter, but to comedian Richard Pryor. The likeness is in the way she melds humor with sorrow to explore a variety of topics.

“Sometimes writing about it just helps me deal with things,” she says. “I haven’t always been the most well-adjusted person.”

Dawson says she set up her current tour through her online journal, which has led to some interesting booking arrangements. One of her upcoming shows is at Ted & Wally’s, an ice cream store in Omaha.

“I try not to play in places that are just bars,” she says. “I try for places where people are just hanging out.”