Vibrant as ever

Thirty years ago, she was a girl playing guitar in a Greenwich Village club. After three decades and eight critically acclaimed albums, Suzanne Vega still isn't finished making music.

One of the most prominent singer-songwriters of the 1980s folk music scene, Vega is known for her mysterious and profound songs, including "Tom's Diner" and "Luka." Today, she is in the midst of re-releasing her beloved albums in a four-volume set, Close-Up, which strips her songs down to their bare essentials. The songs on the new collection feature just guitar and vocals, with spots of percussion and bass to add texture to the new acoustic versions.

Vega will perform her works with just guitar at Sixth & I Historic Synagogue in Washington tomorrow. Her set list includes songs from the third of the re-released volumes, Close-Up, Vol. 3 — States of Being, which came out in mid-July.

Her style famously omits standard singing techniques such as vibrato and syncopation in favor of a more natural vibe. But though she employs many folk-like tendencies and lists influences such as Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen, she is by no means a strictly folk musician.

"I've never tried to limit myself to any particular style," Vega said. "There's no real one category that I fit uniquely into."

A resident of New York City, Vega said she is inspired by her surroundings and neighbors, and often is propelled to write about the city's beauty and energy.

"I love the city, I love its vitality, I love all the different characters in it," Vega said. "I feel a sense of camaraderie with other people who live here. I feel there's something universal about it."

But Vega said she doesn't focus on projecting messages that come out of the city setting, or sliding any personal views into her songs — she lets the music write itself.

"If I wanted to give out messages, I would just write flyers and put them up with my message on it," Vega said. "A really great artist doesn't start with a message. You start with the page in front of you."

Suzanne Vega performs at the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue tomorrow. Doors open at 7 p.m. Tickets cost $35.

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