Home town musical hero Willy Mason played for a crowd of enthusiastic and adoring fans on Martha’s Vineyard Saturday evening, headlining a free concert organized by Boston public radio station WUMB.

Accompanied on vocals by his wife Marciana Jones. — Anthony Esposito

Backed up for much of the show with the soft harmony of his wife Marciana Jones, the singer-songwriter zipped through a polished set of familiar rock, roots, folk and blues tunes before a crowd at the Loft in Oak Bluffs that included a large contingent of family and friends.

Mr. Mason is just back from touring in Australia, and before that California. Shortly, he will head back to California to work on his fourth album, and then to London for more recording and performances. For the moment, he is happy to be home.

“It’s kind of like a family reunion,” he said, a few minutes before taking the stage. “You want to wear your best shoes.”

Giving voice to a sense of raw disenchantment and generational weariness that belies his nearly 31 years, Mr. Mason has made a name for himself in England and Europe, where his albums get plenty of airplay and climb the British record charts. Though he has had a rocky relationship with the U.S. music industry, he seems to have found his place without losing his soul in recent years, while working to get his music in front of American audiences.

“It just so happened that my first album (Where the Humans Eat, 2004) hit it big over there, really fast,” he said. “In the U.S. you have to spend twice as much time to make a dent. I’ve been busy trying to build up more and more of a circuit here in the States.”

Mr. Mason’s music is filled with evocative references to his West Tisbury home and his Island education. It didn’t take long for him to get back to his roots before the home crowd.

Concert was a family affair — at center Willy's mother Jemima James. — Anthony Esposito

The third song of his set was Riptide, from his 2007 album If the Ocean Gets Rough. In a soulful electric ballad, he sings of returning to his familiar ocean home, with broken dreams and a yearning for change.

I can still see Neilgen walking up the dock. I remember when I carved my name into this cedar tree. Sing while I’m walking, Sebby’s on the rocks, with a new reel flashing casting as he talks. He came home from the city, when they choked out all of his dreams. Everywhere I go I’m going to the ocean.

He shifted quickly into Show Me the Way to Go Home from his latest record Carry On, a short bluesy ode to navigating a world of trouble.

The crowd responded with whoops and sang along when he broke into Oxygen, his best known tune. A showcase for his impressive vocal range, the song is a hopeful anthem to resilience and the strength of believing in ideas that can overcome the mistakes of previous generations.

We can be richer than industry as long as we know that there’s things that we don’t really need. We can speak louder than ignorance ‘cause we speak in silence every time our eyes meet. On and on and on it goes. The world it just keeps spinning until I’m dizzy, time to breathe. So close my eyes and start again anew.

He finger picked is way through the country tune Pickup Truck, and a soulful, melancholy Waiter at the Station, before parking his guitar in the guitar stand to enthusiastic applause.

The crowd called Mr. Mason back for two encores, including a delightful cover of the Hank Williams tune You’re Gonna Change (Or I’m Gonna Leave), and finished the evening with the title song from his debut album Where the Humans Eat.

Two fellow Massachusetts natives performed to begin the evening. Krista Baroni drew applause with a sweet set of folk ballads, and Ian Fitzgerald delivered a strong set of roots folk tunes.