And so , for these reasons , Wainwright ’ s latest album , the Grammy Award-nominated Unfollow the Rules ( for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album ), is a full-circle moment in his life and discography . For the album – which came out in July 2020 on BMG – he returned to some of the same L . A . recording haunts , such as the famed Sound City Studios , where he recorded his self-titled debut LP in 1998 . As well , he brought back some of the same L . A . -based session greats , including drummer Jim Keltner , who played also played on the 1975 album Unrequited by Wainwright ’ s father , Loudon Wainwright III . It had been nearly a decade since Rufus ’ last “ pop ” album ( 2012 ’ s Mark Ronson-produced Out of the Game ), and by design , Unfollow the Rules was a return to the Baroque-pop sounds of his earlier record . That is not to say , though , that it is some kind of pale self-imitation of past glories .
“ I consider my first album and this to be two bookends to this , hopefully , first third of my career — but maybe half of it , who knows ? But yeah , I ’ m very set on this , sort of , delineation that this last record has created , where I was able to return to the scene of the crime , shall we say , and really put out something that is related , but also more advanced and more precise with Unfollow the Rules . Also , it gives me the opportunity to now do completely different things , which I ’ ve always done anyway , so look out !” he says , once more with a self-deprecating laugh .
“ One thing that I ’ ve definitely been more aware of , of late , is my parents ’ connection to Laurel Canyon , even though they never lived here , per se , though I spent a lot of time as a little kid and at the Chateau Marmont because my mother was recording in L . A .,” Wainwright continues . “ But their careers are really entwined in the sort of singer-songwriter tradition that comes out in L . A . So , especially my mother and aunt , Kate and Anna McGarrigle , their song ‘ Heart Like a Wheel ’ was a huge deal when Linda Ronstadt had that hit with that record . So , I think partially it ’ s really re-discovering that legacy and then now placing myself in that position a little bit .”
Music , of course , is the family business . Growing up in “ the first family of folk ,” as they ’ ve often been called , a life in music was not forced on Rufus or his sister Martha , who ’ s had a very successful career of her own . That said , there was no escaping it either . His American singer-songwriter father , Loudon Wainwright III , married Canadian folk pioneer Kate McGarrigle in 1971 and they divorced in 1976 . Though
he ’ s not as famous as Bob Dylan , James Taylor , or Kris Kristofferson , Loudon has enjoyed an impressive music career that includes more than 20 studio albums from 1970 to today , and he ’ s earned a large and loyal following over the decades with his personal , observational , and often funny brand of modern folk . Of course , Kate ( who passed away in 2010 ) and her sister Anna McGarrigle , beginning with their self-titled debut in 1976 , are among the most revered folk artists in Canadian history . Among their many achievements , they were made Members of the Order of Canada in 1993 and earned a SOCAN Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006 .
“ I didn ’ t see my dad so much because he was touring a lot . He worked a lot while I was growing up , so I would see him very rarely and we would maybe get up and sing a chorus with him and so forth , like on ‘ Dead Skunk ’ at a folk festival , occasionally – though , that was intermixed with occasional trips to the theatre . I went to see Broadway musicals with my dad , so that was a great
PHOTO : V . TONY HAUSER early education . He took me to see Annie and Guys and Dolls and all that kind of stuff ,” Wainwright recalls . “ My mother , on the other hand , was incredibly hands-on with both Martha and I , and so was Anna with her two kids . So , we would sing every weekend for our grandmother who lived up in the Laurentians , and we would learn harmonies , we would learn a lot of French folk songs , and we would put on little concerts for our grandmother . So , that was very hands-on , and then when my mother started to want to do Christmas shows , so we then went on stage with my mother and aunt .”
It was at only 13 or 14 years old that Wainwright first showed his future star potential , appearing in the 1988 Canadianmade kids fantasy film Tommy Tricker and the Stamp Traveller to sing his own song , “ I ’ m- a-Runnin ’,” which earned him a Genie Award nomination for Best Original Song and Juno Award nomination for Most Promising Male Vocalist . Throughout his childhood , it was his mother who forced young Rufus to practice piano , and he continued to take lessons
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