As folk singer Charlie King exited Santa Fe cafe and walked towards Towers on Welch Avenue late Sunday night, he chuckled and said, “It’s a sign of the times when you see a place called the Head Shop where they actually cut hair.”

For King, it is still important to connect with the audience and not force anything down people’s throats. That’s why he arrived three days before tonight’s free performance at the Maintenance Shop.

Reflecting on his 22-year touring career, King says he still has a message that touches today’s college student.

“Generally, I like to take my time in town before a show to get a feel for what is important to people in the area,” King said. “I play to the interests of the crowd.”

King and his wife, Karen Brandow, an author and fellow folk musician, hit the M-Shop tonight,for the first time in six years.

Charlie King is an American folk music veteran, a virtual living legend having played with such greats as Pete Seeger, Arlo Guthrie and Holly Near.

His roots are in the protests of the 60s, but he first sang with the United Farm Workers in New York as they participated in the grape and lettuce boycott.

King’s great skill at song writing and his ability to rally a crowd were soon noticed, and he was drawn into the world of music and protest.

Twelve albums, hundreds of sing-a-long choruses, thousands of political quips and nearly forty years later, King’s peaceful fight for change is still strong.

King performs for pure entertainment, but do not be surprised if you hear the debut of a new ditty about ‘The Man’ and the ‘Veishea Pledge.'”

“Since no one single agenda is to be served, the set will be wide open,” King said.

Though called by some the voice of America, King is more modest.

“My voice is but one of the voices in the chorus of America’s collective voice,” King said.

Brandow has spent much of the last eight years in Guatemala where she worked with labor, campesino and women’s movements always observing her surroundings.

In 1996, she wrote “The Sky Never Changes,” a book about her experiences in South America.

Brandow’s eight years in Guatemala have exposed her to a diverse background of music that will surely add spice to King’s already eclectic sound.

King and Brandow are now on tour to raise funds for the production and release of King’s forthcoming album, which will have a heavy Irish influence, on his own record label. After that, the couple plans to record a duet album and hit the road once again.

King said he plans on entertaining and moving people until he is no longer physically able. However, he resents certain aspects of singing professionally.

“If I could quit the business of singing today, I would,” King said.

ISU sociology professor Mike Bell is one person who remembers King’s 1994 Ames performance.

“Charlie sings about the problems of the world, but also how to change [those problems],” Bell said. “You go away from a Charlie King concert feeling that it really is possible to make the world a better place, and empowered to try.”

Recent problems King has examined include mass commercialism, violence and terrorism, and the death penalty.

King and Brandow bring their combined voices to the M-Shop Tuesday.

Although times may have changed and the only thing available at a place called the Head Shop is a stylish haircut, people are still moved by the voice of America’s never-ending dream for security and equality.