Joel Plaskett invited his audience into his living room when he played The Pavilion on Wednesday night.

The unassuming, fun-loving Plaskett played songs from several of his albums. Playing drums, various guitars, and his “high-tech wonder” (a 1980’s-vintage electronic keyboard, purchased from a Sally Ann), Plaskett enamoured his audience into becoming his friends for the two-hour show.

Billed as Joel Plaskett with Friends and Family, the concert featured Joel’s dad, Bill Plaskett, and good friends Rose Cousins and Ana Egge, all fine musicians and songwriters in their own right. Each performed songs from their repertoire and backed Joel for about half of the show.

Prior to the show, Plaskett chatted about his tour. The tall, slim 34-year-old is soft-spoken, humble, with a quick wit and a winning smile.

The tour is in support of his new release, Three, a conceptually driven album of songs that centres on the theme of three.

“I wrote a few songs that had that pattern in them, and once I noticed the trend, I just had fun with it. But I always found that if I pushed it too hard, it wasn’t working, so I’d move to a different idea.”

Plaskett explained more during the concert.

“I wrote the songs as I was approaching my 33rd birthday, and so my first idea was to write 33 songs to be put on three CD’s. After I had written 30 songs, I worked on the release and ended up with 27 on the three CD’s. So, I’ve placed the remaining three on a seven-inch vinyl.”

“For $3?” quipped a gentleman in the front row.

Plaskett beamed a smile, replied, “For $3 … plus four ….” Laughter.

During the interview, Plaskett said songwriting tends to turn his home life upside down.

“When I get fixated on a song, I’ll stay up into the late night. It’s around that time when I’m really tired that I start connecting the dots faster. That wakes me up and then I’m up until 4. It’s not a bad place to be, but my wife is more of a morning person and so it doesn’t afford me much time with her.”

Touring also puts his life in upheaval.

“This tour has been great, a little overwhelming, lots of dates, lots of driving and lots of people coming, so it’s been great … Of course, I’m away from my wife for the whole tour, but that’s the deal when you tour.”

The deal has been a bit of a miracle day by day. The band members and one-man crew travel in a white Suburban with more than 475,000 kilometres on it. Vehicle maintenance is daily — the van broke down just outside Kenora, Ont.,

“It would be great if I had the money (for a tour bus), but we’ve managed to make it so far.”

This tour is pared down compared to other gigs with Plaskett’s band The Emergency. “I’ve peeled away the layers and just played.”

“The first album that inspired me to be a songwriter was Led Zeppelin IV.” Plaskett’s eyes got wide and his smile broke through as he reminisced.

“Stairway To Heaven changed my life. It was 1987 and I was at a camp. There was a guy, the cook, who air-guitared it and lip-synced to it. Everyone thought it was funny, but I thought it was amazing.”

Maybe that’s what makes Plaskett’s music so endearing. While some find his songs funny, most agree to use the word “amazing” at the same time.

The 100 or so attendees were lavished with two hours of Plaskett’s idiosyncratic songs glued together with his equally idiosyncratic banter, which allowed for good-natured quips from the “friends” in the audience. The concert was a rare occasion where a musician invites the audience to join in and experience the “visit.”

His songs were serious, funny, profound and foolish, often all at once.

Plaskett freely moves from country to pop to rock to folk. Despite those moves, the sincerity of his art shines through, partly because of his “hospitality,” partly because of the world-class abilities of his dad and friends on stage, and partly because of a mostly unseen hero.

What hero? When you have a concert of musicians changing instruments, changing parts, and strolling on and off stage, the real nightmare can be negotiating sound levels. Compliments of the yeoman service by his sound tech and chief everyman Steve Smith, Plaskett’s concert had a rare commodity for such a variegated show: great sound.

Plaskett performed several selections from Three. Through and Through and Through and Deny, Deny, Deny were notably strong. He saved his hit Fashionable People for the encore,

“I’m not worried about being fashionable. I like to think that I’m 10 years ahead and five years behind,” he said.

The concert was the antithesis of a big event, but with all the benefits of musicians and songwriters who play and entertain at a world-class level.

Plaskett and his group garnered a couple of well-earned standing ovations for his simple, precise and refreshing performances.

His advice for up-and-coming songsters and performers?

“For me, I’m trying to bring a lot of joy into [songwriting], and if I don’t like it, then I want to change it … if you come into something from a really negative space, then it’ll eventually burn itself out.”

If Wednesday’s concert is any indication, Plaskett’s fire is far from waning, as his joy is burning bright. Shine On, Shine On, Shine On.

Jason Bermiller is an English instructor at TRU and hosts the ProgDog radio show every Monday from 5 p..m to 7 p.m. on 92.5 FM the X.