Jonatha Brooke will try once more to bring her folk rock to State College.

Brooke was originally scheduled to play a show with fellow singer-songwriter Glen Phillips in October, but the show was canceled when Phillips sat on a glass coffee table and caused it to shatter, Brooke said.

"He was seriously injured," she said. "We set a make-up date but it turns out he can't do it, so I'm coming alone anyway."

Brooke will play a "stripped-down acoustic" set at 8 tonight at the State Theatre, 130 W. College Ave.

Mike Negra, executive director of the State Theatre, said he is glad to finally have the show after this series of unfortunate events.

He added tonight's performance is a chance for audience members to get to know an artist in an intimate setting.

"Her lyrics and structure of her songs should appeal to people who like singer-songwriters," he said. "This is a good night to take a chance on someone they don't know, if they don't know her."

Brooke is still touring to promote her latest record, The Works, which was released in August.

This album was highly influenced by Brooke's research of Woody Guthrie, who sang the ballad "This Land Is Your Land."

Brooke was given the opportunity to view Guthrie's archived work when she was asked to perform at a tribute to the Guthrie family organized by the Philadephia Folksong Society.

"It came out of the blue," Brooke said. "I didn't have that much interest in him until I started looking at the lyrics."

She added she was "blissfully ignorant" to the fact he wrote so many romantic songs and love poems.

"Once I got in there and started researching, I kind of fell in love with the guy," she said, adding this was when she got the idea to do a full-length record.

Out of all the artists who were given access to the archives, Brooke said she was the first to go in-depth and take liberties with what she found.

"I worked to bring the lyrics into the contemporary world," she said.

Brooke has been producing records on her own label, Bad Dog Records, since 1999. She said it can sometimes be overwhelming trying to do everything herself, but she likes being involved in all the different levels of recording.

"All artists are being forced to come up with ideas of how to get their stuff out there," she said. "Whether they are on a label or not."

Brooke said her stage show is sometimes intimate, sometimes complex and always "rockin'."

"I try to engage the audience," she said. "You never know what will happen when I'm on stage."