Willy Porter might just be the nicest man in folk music.

With a wife, a two-year-old daughter and a newly released album all vying for his time, this Milwaukee native is a busy man. But right now, he has to worry about making it safely to his next show. Vandals have stolen the spare tire to his van.

In a situation where most musicians would get upset, Porter just laughs it off with a trip to the junkyard for a new tire.

“It’s all part of the fun and games of being in the music biz,” Porter says. “I don’t wanna miss my gig in Ames.”

This positive outlook on life is more than just an isolated incident. This has been Porter’s approach towards music since the beginning. After opening for such acts as Sting, Jethro Tull, Tori Amos and Paul Simon, Porter is ready to once again show Ames what a little bit of hard work and determination can do when he returns to the Maintenance Shop on Friday.

“I’ll never forget the first time we booked him,” says M-Shop coordinator Eric Yarwood. “We only sold about 40 tickets before the show, but it was Labor Day weekend, so we figured no one was in town. By the time the show started, there were almost 140 people through the door. It was incredible.”

For Porter, the M-Shop is more than just a place to sell tickets and CDs. It’s also a place where the audience understands his message.

“I think the it’s a great venue – I’ve had really great shows there,” Porter says. “I enjoy the audience that comes out. They really come out to listen, and they seem like they’re fans of real music.”

In this singer-songwriter’s case, the “real music” is all about the feeling and the message that a song leaves with the listener. Using tight, otherworldly guitar pickings and chord patterns as a canvas, Porter paints a musical picture with each song he performs, often portraying a variety of different characters and personas through his lyrics. While these changes in personality over the course of a song seem contrived on paper, Porter says varying personalities in an individual are just part of the human condition.

“Everybody’s a schizophrenic,” Porter says. “I don’t mean to make a mockery of that clinical condition in any way, but every person has multiple personalities, whether they’re studying for an exam or attending a lecture or on a date with their lover. We like to think that we’re genuine all the time, but when we’re genuinely getting through our day, we have to morph into different people just to sort of merge with society.”

Porter says although the songs on his new self-titled album are written from different perspectives, everyone can relate to the characters.

“In my case, I’ve felt like I’ve been everybody who’s on that CD, from the drunk, to the guy who kills the other guy,” Porter says. “I obviously haven’t exactly lived that factor out, but I can certainly identify with his fear and rage. He has the strength and the fear to kill somebody, but he doesn’t have the strength to tell the woman he loves that he loves her.”

Another checkmark in Porter’s laundry list of achievements was his decision to build and record in his own studio, which he says gave him the chance to concentrate less on the process and more on the music. “That was a great situation,” Porter says. “It was much easier for me to sing and play in that environment. I always felt like the clock was ticking away, but I didn’t feel like that on this album. I really felt like I could get behind the characters in the songs even more.”

The greatest improvement on his new album was realizing that he didn’t need to control the process, Porter says. By collaborating with such artists as Tom Pirozolli, Donny Brown (The Verve Pipe) and Ed Robertson (The Barenaked Ladies), Porter says he was able to let go of a lot of the stress he was used to when recording an album.

“That was probably the best move I made,” Porter says. “By not feeling like I had to write everything, that small little control mechanism that I had going disappeared, and I tried to do that for the betterment of these tunes.”

Despite the impressive lineup that backs Porter on the album, he will fly solo at the M-Shop. He enjoys playing with a full band the most, but playing alone is always an interesting experience.

“I have a lot more experience as a solo guy and touring as a solo musician, but I like being in a band because it’s more raw. But I think in some ways, the solo thing is harder because you’re so exposed,” Porter says. “There’s something really great about that. It’s like a high-wire act without the net.”