Richard Buckner says he works up to 16 hours per day, but a glance at his checkbook certainly doesn’t show it.

“If you add the money I make times the hours I work, I probably would be better off working at McDonald’s,” he says. “When you … put your money into projects that don’t really pay it all back, it’s not the thing to do if you want to live comfortably.”

Buckner says he tours alone in a pickup truck with nothing but two guitars and possibly one or two other instruments because he can’t afford to bring another person on the road. This weekend, he’ll make a stop in Ames at the Maintenance Shop.

Buckner says having no money doesn’t bother him, and he would rather stay in this way of life than work in an office every day.

“I’d much rather be broke and in some weird town getting some writing done,” he says. “The environment is much more inspirational than going into an office or Jiffy Lube or something like that.”

Buckner says he has an English degree but can’t really do anything with it, which has kept him pursuing his musical goals.

“Right now, I can’t really be a musician,” he says. “I’m not making ends meet, but I’m still doing it. People do this for years and develop these little circles you get into where you just find yourself in a certain way of life and you just stick to it because you have no choice.”

Buckner was signed to mainstream label MCA, on which he released two albums — “Devotion + Doubt” and “Since.” Buckner says he had a horrible experience with MCA and doesn’t understand why anyone would want to deal with mainstream labels.

“They made all sorts of promises they couldn’t carry through on,” he says. “Right now, I’m on a smaller label, and it’s a lot more comfortable.”

Buckner says part of his comfort level has to do with the ease at which business is conducted on the smaller scale.

He says he thinks people shouldn’t set specific goals for the future — they should just let things happen.

“There shouldn’t be goals in art,” he says. “You should be doing what you’re doing and it should be automatic, like breathing. People who have goals are the people you should be very suspicious of.”

Who: Richard Buckner, Mary Cutrufello

Where: M-Shop

When: 8 p.m. Thursday

Cost: $5 students, $8 public