When Canadian-American singer, songwriter and composer Rufus Wainwright returns to Brisbane in January 2025, he will do so with vivid memories of the Sunshine State from when he last played the city twenty years ago.
‘To be honest, my primary memories of your city are three things: the sunshine that was really just everywhere, the really beautiful boarding school (Somerville House) close to the city and the mall you guys have in the city that had lots of disaffected youth milling around. Maybe some of them will come to my show,’ he laughs.
Wainwright has escaping from the United States on his mind. He’s had enough of US President-elect Donald Trump and is ‘looking forward to getting some time away from Trump’s America’.
At a town hall in suburban Philadelphia in late October, Trump bizarrely abandoned the planned format just 30 minutes into the event. ‘Let’s not do any more questions,’ he said. ‘Let’s just listen to music.’
An eclectic playlist including Wainwright’s cover of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah blared through the PA system. Wainwright was mightily pissed off about the inclusion of the song.
Not a Trump fan
Speaking from his home in Los Angeles four days after Trump’s re-election, Wainwright makes clear his displeasure about both Trump’s use of the song and impending second presidency.
‘I absolutely despise Trump and everything he stands for. I unequivocally supported Kamala Harris and didn’t in any way condone him using my music. I was mortified. The good in me hopes that just maybe, he’ll actually really inhabit and listen to Cohen’s lyrics and experience some remorse over what he’s caused, but I’m not holding my breath,’ he says.
‘My hope is that, in having re-elected him, America will be a little bit like an alcoholic who has to hit rock bottom in order to really get help. It will force everybody who believes in something good to really engage and fight for that. People will have to find community and believe in stuff and fight hard in order for what is right to prevail.’
PHOTO: Miranda Turin
It is almost 20 years since Wainwright made his live debut in Brisbane. The year was 2005 and he took to the stage of Fortitude Valley’s Tivoli Theatre with his late-mother, folk icon Kate McGarrigle, his aunt, Anna McGarrigle and his sister, then-fledgling folk-rock chanteuse Martha, for an eclectic set of songs showcasing their respective careers and their family folkocracy.
When he returns to The Tiv in January, Wainwright will step onstage as a very different and more accomplished performer.
PHOTO: Miranda Turin
In the interceding 20 years he has released eleven studio albums, half a dozen of which are original songs, as well as penning two critically-acclaimed operas and most recently, a Broadway stage musical.
His most recent album, 2023’s Folkocracy, is an unpredictable collection of reimagined folk classics, with contributions from some of the most compelling voices in contemporary pop music.
Among the album’s 15 tracks are a sombre murder ballad sung with Brandi Carlile, a rootsy take on Neil Young’s Harvest, a slow-burning rendition of Cotton-Eye Joe with Chaka Khan, plus appearances from David Byrne, John Legend and ANHONI.
Handles covers with care
‘I think you have to treat it like a life-or-death situation when you’re covering somebody else’s music. It has to have that same level of intensity there, both for you as a performer and also for the listener,’ Wainwright says.
‘I recently read the greatest line about music I’ve ever heard. I was flipping through a book of poetry from Fernando Pessoa, a Portuguese poet and writer from about 100 years ago. There’s this poem where he says: “Sing as if you’re listening”.
‘That was so enlightening to me because that’s my absolute belief: the heart and soul of being a great interpreter is to sing a song and listen to it at the same time; to really inhabit it in this holistic way where all of your senses are in service to the music.’
Famous family
Born into folk music royalty, his parents are singer/songwriters Loudon Wainwright III and the late Kate McGarrigle, his aunts are folkies Anna McGarrigle and Sloan Wainwright, his sister is singer/songwriter Martha Wainwright and his half-sister is musician Lucy Wainwright Roche.
Wainwright was raised in Canada, singing along to folk songs before he could properly speak. Unlike his famous family, however, Wainwright made his name composing lush, complicated, baroque pop music.
‘I think because my music is generally so different from that of my family, Folkocracy sort of came as a double-whammy for people because, on the one hand, it is sort of the album I have always been expected to make, just because of my background, but, on the other, it’s so different from anything else I’ve done.’
‘It was kind of my birthday present to myself. If I’m completely honest, I wanted to win a Grammy and I did end up being nominated, but in the end I lost out to Joni Mitchell. Who can be angry about that?’
Rufus Wainwright plays the Tivoli Theatre, Fortitude Valley, on January 14 2025. He’s also playing Melbourne and Sydney details here
PHOTO of Rufus Wainwright in suit at top of story by V. Tony Hauser
