Loudon Wainwright III is many things. To some in my generation, he's known as a minor comedic actor, having appeared in M*A*S*H and Judd Apatow productions like The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up and the short-lived college comedy Undeclared (as well as more dubious cinematic fare like 2009's G-Force - the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced family romp about CGI gerbil secret agents). Decades earlier, Wainwright was a singular and widely admired folk talent that critics eagerly labeled "The New Dylan," back when that honorific was still fresh and hadn't been devalued through overuse by unimaginative journalists. Others might know him best as the patriarch of a preternaturally talented brood (his son Rufus and daughters Martha and Lucy are acclaimed singer-songwriters in their own right).

When Wainwright comes to the Washington Center for Performing Arts this Friday, the focus will be on Wainwright the musician - the sharp wit with a Dickensian knack for finding beatific ways to paint depressing subjects, the pained voice that savors every barbed and rhyming punch line, the raconteur, the pundit, the lyrical prankster in the mode of Nilsson and Newman. At 64, this Grammy winner has found a comfortable, irony-free way to stay culturally present - on TV, in films and on soundtracks - and is still cranking out new albums with admirable regularity. Since releasing his heart-wrenching self-titled debut in 1970, Wainwright has recorded 21 studio albums, and the only real lapse in his productivity came after the (perhaps unfair) critical evisceration of ‘78's Final Exam, the second of two ambitiously meaty LPs featuring contributions from the rock group Slowtrain.

Wainwright's most recent output falls safely within the same creative territory sought out by many other AARP-qualified musicians, namely one-off experiments in homage (2009's High Wide & Handsome: The Charlie Poole Project, a double LP thatrevisited classics by the banjo player/songwriter Poole, and included over 25 guest artists) and more intimate, earnest attempts at contemporary commentary (Wainwright's latest, the Devils and Dust-esque 10 Songs for the New Depression, includes songs about the government's economic stimulus efforts and the ongoing housing crisis). Word is that Wainwright's recent live sets have included some necessary old favorites in addition to the 10 Songs material (I'd pull for Album II's sorrowfully indiscrete "Motel Blues"), and he still fields requests, too, though I think it's safe to say he'd rather play any of the gems from his long, diverse and prolific career than recite any lines from Zombie Bankers or G-Force.

[Washington Center for the Performing Arts, Shawn Colvin and Loudon Wainright III, Friday, Jan. 21, 7:30 p.m., $19.25-$46.50, 512 Washington St. S.E., Olympia, 360.753.8586]