Music has often been driven by eccentrics. Many people will tell you someone has to be a little bit different to make good music. Jim Morrison, Axl Rose, Janis Joplin — they all fit the mold. Some of these people let their personalities drive them to destructive ends. Mary Lou Lord is at the same time one of those people and not.

Famous for “busking” — playing in the street and subway — Mary Lou Lord has always walked a little off the beaten path. But when it leads to results as glorious as a folk version of Van Halen’s “Jump,” you can’t blame her for being somewhat strange. Lord first found her voice playing on the streets and in London subways.

“I used to just hang out in the subway because my house was freezing cold,” she says. “I was just hanging out there because it was free and warm. There were a lot of really talented people in the subway there. I made friends with one and baby-sat his guitar. When he was gone I picked up his guitar and played a few chords. Someone threw money and I was like, ‘Oh, my God. Money.’ “

Lord decided to pick up a guitar of her own the next day and give busking a try for herself.

“Then I kept doing it. I came back to America and said, ‘Well, maybe I’ll just do it here in the subway once.’ Then I just never stopped doing it. I actually got better.

I didn’t intend on doing it for a long time. I lucked out I guess,” she says.

Lord then signed with record label Kill Rock Stars and set out on tour with her guitar. Time has done a little bit to slow down Lord. But having a daughter would tend to make someone less of a road warrior. Lord says she’s a little uneasy being on tour after a four-year absence.

“I haven’t done it for a while though, so I’m feeling a little out of my league, but whatever,” she says as her Boston accent creeps through. “I had a baby. Babies aren’t so … um — tours and babies, they don’t go hand in hand.”

But now that her daughter has reached toddler age, Lord has more freedom.

“She’s 4 now and able to venture out a little bit more,” she says. “She joins me sometimes. If you know me, you know I play in the streets and the subway. She doesn’t play in the subway, but on a nice day, she’ll help me out.”

Lord says she’s happy to have her daughter join her on a few busking trips.

“She’s a riot. She just loves it. One day I was out there singing and she demanded the microphone. I gave her the mic and she sang the entire ‘Good Ship Lollipop.’ I just had no idea that she even knew it. She went through the whole thing and she refused to give the microphone back.”

Lord says while she loves that her daughter loves music, she’s not so sure she wants her to follow in Mommy’s footsteps. “I hope not,” she says. “I encourage her to enjoy music and to listen to different types of music. But that’s about it, you know.”

Who: Mary Lou Lord, Adam Goldman, Dan Hutchinson

Where: Maintenance Shop

When: 8 p.m. Saturday

Cost: $7 students, $9 public