Lord Knows

Even so, Lord hasn't closed the book on busking. She performed an impromptu set in the Boston subway in early March, and rather than lining up a club date during Austin's South By Southwest Music Conference a couple of weeks later, she staked out a spot in front of a Kinko's copy center and did her thing there. "I like to do that as much as I can, especially when things get crazy," she says. "It makes me grounded. I can be playing, and a 45-year-old nun might come up to me and say, 'You know what? That made my day.' And that's what it's all about to me."

Well, almost. Lord likes the sight of her guitar case filled with quarters, but she's not averse to making profits on a larger scale. And according to her, she knows just how to do it: "I'll go on tour with the Kelly Family."

Mary Lou Lord, with Slim Dunlap. 8 p.m. Monday, April 6, Bluebird Theater, 3317 East Colfax, $6, 830-