Alongside Bob Dylan and Phil Ochs, Tom Paxton helped folk music evolve from its traditional roots to its modern, singer-songwriter-based model at the tail end of the American folk revival — in fact, he was one of the first folkies to start incorporating his original songs alongside traditional material. Songs such as “The Last Thing on My Mind,” “The Marvelous Toy” and “What Did You Learn in School Today?” mix the personal and the political and have been covered by Dylan, Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, Dave Van Ronk, Johnny Cash, The Punch Brothers and countless others. Paxton bypassed the folk rock movement spearheaded by Dylan and others, instead concentrating on what he does best: topical folk. (He has also amassed a large collection of children’s albums). Most recently, Paxton has toured with duo The DonJuans, AKA songwriters Jon Henry and Don Vezner, best known for writing Kathy Mattea’s Grammy-winning, 1989 hit “Where’ve You Been.” The trio is back on the road and will play the Tower Theatre on Wednesday — a little less than a week after Halloween, which is also Paxton’s 82nd birthday.

Tom Paxton and The DonJuans: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday; $32, $42 or $52 plus theater preservation fee; Tower Theatre, 835 NW Wall St., Bend; towertheatre.org or 541-317-0700.