Visit New York City via Rockport with folk-pop singer Suzanne Vega

The "Luka" singer-songwriter brings her "Evening of New York Songs and Stories" to the Shalin Liu Oct. 23.

Suzanne Vega. Carlo Allegri/Invision/AP, File

1 minute to read

Her name was Luka, she lived on the second floor, and she was the unlikely protagonist of Suzanne Vega’s breakout hit, “Luka,” in 1987. That track, told from the point of view of a childhood abuse survivor, reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and fueled Vega’s sophomore album “Solitude Standing” into a million-selling sensation — not bad for thoughtful folk-pop during the waning days of hair metal.

Thirty-plus years and eight albums later, Vega is still strumming, still singing, and eager to chat — or at least tell stories about life, love, music, and the Big Apple. That’s something she did to great effect on her recent live album, 2020’s “An Evening of New York Songs and Stories,” which also happens to be the name of the show she’s bringing to the Shalin Liu Performance Center in Rockport Oct. 23. (And also to the Narrows Center for the Arts on the 22nd, if Fall River is more your speed.)

It makes sense that Vega, who grew up in Spanish Harlem and the Upper West Side, would feel a musical affinity toward her home city. “I guess depending on how you slant it, you can make most any song about New York,” Vega told the Newtown Bee, speaking from her home in the Empire State. “I’d written most of them here, and New York is a central theme that runs through most of my life and therefore, my work.”

But don’t think this show is for Yankee fans only — in addition to the New York-y songs she featured on “Songs and Stories,” Vega told the Bee that concertgoers can expect both fan favorites and hits like “Luka” and “Tom’s Diner” (the originally a cappella track famously remixed by dance producers DNA, to massive success). But if you are in a metropolitan mood, cross your fingers for her cover of Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side” — it’s a treat.