Loudon Wainwright III is one of many songwriters over the past several decades to be declared "the next Bob Dylan."

At first glance, Loudon Wainwright III and Livingston Taylor kind of sounds, respectively, like a well-to-do English wagon-builder from the 1800s and his unlikely pal, a former swashbuckling pirate now trying to walk the straight and narrow.

While that does sound cool and all, it’s way off. Wainwright and Taylor are, in fact, experienced and accomplished songwriters and performers who are on tour together and will stop by Bend’s Tower Theatre on Thursday night.

Both of these fellas have been making folk music professionally for decades, which is a feat in and of itself. Wainwright’s best-known songs include “The Swimming Song,” “Motel Blues,” “The Man Who Couldn’t Cry” and “Dead Skunk,” and his children include successful musicians Rufus Wainwright, Martha Wainwright and Lucy Wainwright Roche.

Taylor’s family makes music, too: His brother is folk giant James Taylor, who recently announced a May 19 show at Bend’s Hayden Homes Amphitheater. And Livingston’s got some memorable tunes of his own, including “I Will Be In Love With You,” “Carolina Day,” “Get Out Of Bed” and “I’ll Come Running.”

Loudon Wainwright III and Livingston Taylor: 7 p.m. Thursday, doors open 6 p.m., $63.50-$74.50, Tower Theatre, 835 NW Wall Street, Bend, towertheatre.org.