Shane Alexander has returned to the United States from a concert tour in Europe in time to rest up for his solo acoustic show April 27 at the Allegheny RiverStone Center for the Arts along the Allegheny River in Foxburg.

The Butler native will have to fly to Western Pennsylvania from his home in Southern California though.

Alexander was on tour with German artist Christian Steiffen for two weeks of shows in Germany and Switzerland.

“It was great. I’ve done tours with him before; this was the third,” Alexander said.

“We’ve been friends for a long time, since before he was famous. He’s kind of a big deal now, and he likes to share his success.”

Alexander said they played to crowds of 1,000 to 2,000 per night.

“It was a successful trip. I was able to win over the audience every night.”

He does his own tours as well. “I do tours of all shapes and sizes,” he said. “I’ve been to Germany and Netherlands probably 20 times.”

He said the people in the Netherlands seem to understand English better than people at the Germany shows, he thinks because “the Netherlands has American TV shows with subtitles but in Germany the American TV shows have German voice overs.”

The Butler High School graduate — his dad and stepmom, Steve and Peppy Alexander, still live in Butler — lives just north of Los Angeles now, but he travels through Butler when he can and stops to perform his music.

He’s played shows at the Butler Little Theatre, the Grand Ballroom on Main Street, and Tom Panei’s studio on the South Side.

“I have a lot of love for Butler. My most popular song, ‘Skyway Drive-In,’ has a lot of Butler landmarks in it,” he said.

It’s the 15 million plays on Spotify that make “Skyway Drive-In” his most popular song.

His music genre is folk rock, and “Skyway Drive-In” sounds soulful and heartfelt. He has six albums out including his 2005 debut “The Middle Way.” His seventh, called “A Life Like Ours,” is due out this year.

He’s been making a living as a musician for about 12 years now, opening for the likes of Jewel, John Hiatt, Seal, Bon Iver, Suzanne Vega, Styx and Yes. Songs from his catalog have been featured in more than 100 television shows and films.

Director of Allegheny RiverStone Center for the Arts, John Soroka, said, “We were made aware of Shane by two of our board members, Dr. Dennis Keyes, a retired, prominent Butler area dentist, and Doug Bell, a former Butler resident.

“After doing some research and discovering what an amazing talent Shane is along with his international reputation, we contacted him and are extremely pleased that he agreed to appear on our series, consistent with our mission of offering high-quality artists of all genres,” Soroka said. “The excitement about his upcoming appearance in Foxburg is building.”

The “Small-town in our Bloodstreams” show at Lincoln Hall will run about 90 minutes, featuring music from his upcoming album and his whole career as well as some of his favorite covers, that include obscure songs such as Tim Krekel’s “Angel’s Share” to more well-known selections like David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” and Simon and Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water.”

And he’ll likely perform “Skyway Drive-In” too.

“Singing and guitar are my strengths,” he said.

“I play a lot of instruments but I don’t play a lot well,” he laughed.

He said he can play mandolin, banjo, and a little keyboards and percussion “as needed in the studio.”

He has bands too, one in the U.S. and one in Holland, he said, but most of his performances are solo acoustic, like the April 27 one will be.

After the Foxburg show he’s off to Fredericksburg, Va., then back to his wife and 13-year-old daughter in L.A., where he’ll perform before heading to Rapid City, S.D., for another show.