The live music venues in this town all seem to have their fan favorites. Certain acts just seem to be able to command a good showing any time they come through town — and the booking personnel and venue owners love it.

Brenda Weiler is one of those performers. The former Minneapolis denizen and folk singer/songwriter moved out west last August, but it’s almost like she never left.

Weiler is never gone from Ames for too long, as area crowds welcome her song stylings with open arms. Her last couple of shows at the Maintenance Shop have been filled to near-capacity, if not completely sold out. That being said, the only appropriate direction would be to inquire into what lies in her future.

“I guess the biggest thing right now is that I’m going into the studio in July,” Weiler says. “I’m going to spend a month recording with John Hermanson and Darin Jackson [of Minneapolis indie-pop band Alva Star].

“The four of us are kind of going to do it together like all of us produce it — sort of a joint collaboration, I guess,” Weiler says. “That’s going to be coming out late October or early November.”

With so many hands in the mix, Weiler says this new album won’t come out sounding exactly like her earlier releases.

“We’re just doing preproduction stuff right now, and it’s kind of leaning towards not the opposite of ‘Fly Me Back,’ but pretty different,” she says. “It’s going to be more sparse and just a little more open feeling.

” ‘Fly Me Back’ was pretty produced, and kind of when I hear now, it feels contrived in a lot of ways. It’s kind of going to be the opposite of that — like a lot more live recording.”

Weiler says the new material has developed a different tone, partially due to the influence of Jackson (also of his Kid Dakota side project), who played with her the last time she came through Ames. Jackson’s additional guitar playing added a whiskey-soaked sort of alt-country sentimentality to Weiler’s work.

“It’ll be a lot more of that kind of feel with his style,” she says. “I think just in what we talked about so far, we’re all in agreement in that kind of sound.

“The songs are lending themselves to that because they’re a bit darker sounding. It just won’t have that kind of pop feel to it like other ones.”

Weiler says her listening habits have included bands like the Flaming Lips, Reindeer Section, Spoon, Gillian Welch, Neutral Milk Hotel, the Shins and Damien Jurado, so it’s not hard to see where these sorts of influences could have a contribution to the sound she seems to be going for.

“I’ve definitely been listening to a lot more of that stuff,” Weiler says. “More so than singer-songwriter … I mean folksy types of things.”

Who: Brenda Weiler

Where: M-Shop

When: 8 p.m. Friday

Cost: $7 students, $10 public