One of the best singer-songwriters in modern folk music brings his cautiously carefree musings to Salt Lake City next week.

David Wilcox will be at Kingsbury Hall on Thursday, March 18, with special guest Cosy Sheridan. Showtime is 8 p.m.If you like "older" guitar-brandishing balladeers like James Taylor (to whom Wilcox is often compared) and Jim Croce, as well as the younger ones like John Gorka, you'll love Wilcox, who guides you through a variety of moods, most of them cheery and light-hearted. Be prepared, however, for a frequent dose of melancholy and occasional introspective discomfort.

Like most good singer-songwriters, Wilcox explores all aspects of the human condition, and he does it in simple terms and with a soothingly elegant baritone voice.

You won't find any mind-messing mysticism with Wilcox. Still, he has a knack for the language and enjoys using straight-to-the point metaphors.

For example, "Covert War" is a lamentation about his parents, who fight a lot. In it, the battle-weary, would-be peacemaker sings:

"Thought it was my duty to plead and to implore/but I caught too much crossfire in your covert war."

He poignantly captures romantic adventures and misadventures in songs such as "Wildberry Pie," "Distant Water," "Language of the Heart" and "Mighty Ocean."

Wilcox is at his best, however, when he's whimsical. "Advertising Man" lampoons the tobacco industry; "Daddy's Money" pokes good-natured fun at a teenage girl who gets everything she wants, including a sporty car that costs about "20 times what mine does"; and "Top of the Roller Coaster" celebrates turning 30, when "it's all down hill from here."

Sometimes Wilcox's whimsical side takes a dark turn, as in "Nightshift Watchman," an up-tempo ditty about the guy who works in a nuclear missile silo:

"If I do my job, my job is over/And if I start my day, my days are through/If I set to work, my work is over/Soon as I begin, we'll all be through."

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Wilcox, originally of Ohio but now living in North Carolina, has three albums: "The Nightshift Watchman," 1987; "How Did You Find Me Here," 1989; and "Home Again," 1991. He has had big-name assistance on those albums, with the likes of Mary Chapin Carpenter, David Cohen, John Leventhal and Gorka.

"I see my albums as invitations to my concerts," Wilcox says. "This is the kind of music that's real person-to-person, real in-your-face, because it deals with tough emotions and with believing that there is a lot of common ground between people.

"I play music for people who are after something more than anesthesia."

Tickets to Thursday's show are $15 and $18, and are available at Kingsbury Hall, Smokey's Records and Acoustic Music. To charge by phone, call 581-7100.

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