For her sixth appearance at the Maintenance Shop, Susan Werner knows she has to do something spectacular.

“I’m going to announce my candidacy for president,” Werner jokes.

Expect humor like that during Susan Werner’s show Friday at the M-Shop. With a sound inspired by folk, country, classical and popular music, Werner’s music appeals to people from a wide variety of audiences.

“She can sing a honky-tonk style song on one track and a beautiful love song on the next,” says Eric Yarwood, M-Shop coordinator. “Her style is really diverse.”

Werner says she believes diversity is what makes her shows more interesting to the audience.

“I’m like an adventurer. I like to try different styles,” Werner says. “My shows are like a buffet of music.”

Originally from Manchester, Werner often looks back to her home state for inspiration. Songs such as “Barbed Wire Boys,” a song about the farm boys that never leave home, describe her experiences growing up in rural Iowa.

“I come from the rural Midwest/ It’s the land I love more than all the rest,” are the first two lines of “Barbed Wire Boys.” Her Iowa roots can clearly be seen through lyrics like these in many of her songs.

Since she began coming to the M-Shop, Werner has released five albums. Her first album, “Midwestern Saturday Night” was released in 1991.

Twelve years later, Werner says she doesn’t feel she has changed much. Her first album has a humorous, short style of songwriting. Werner says she would like to keep this fun musical style consistent in all of her albums to come.

Werner is currently working on her sixth album. It will be primarily piano jazz but just as diverse, if not more so, than her past five releases. She began recording the currently untitled album shortly after signing on with her new record label, Koch Records.

Werner says she really looks forward to trips back to her home state. When she isn’t on the road, Werner lives in Chicago and rarely gets back to see friends and family.

“It makes me feel great that people will drive three or four hours just to see me play a show,” Werner says.

It’s the snacks, however, that keeps her coming back to the M-Shop and Iowa State.

“I like that they have popcorn,” Werner says. “It really puts you in the mood to sit back and watch a show.”

Whether the audience is crunching kernels or not, Werner says she is excited to be back at the Shop.

“It’s wonderful to play in a college environment,” Werner says. “[Students are] the brainy type that get my jokes.”