Rufus with guitarist Brian Green & pianist Jacob Mann filming a Rufus-Retro-Wainwright-Spective livestreamed show
up until university .
“ I hated practicing , but I did it nonetheless . And also , we played records a lot around the house . That was a big ingredient . My mother loved having a few drinks and playing records for us , and so that was a big part of our education ,” he remembers fondly . “ She would play , like , Doc Watson or The Staple Singers or they loved Bahamiantype folk singing , and they loved Edith Piaf . One of the big people that they loved a lot was Ewan MacColl , they played a lot of Bob Dylan , then they would also play their own records , and also my dad ’ s records . Also , classical music would be in there occasionally , but we had long listening evenings , which were full of laughs , but mostly tears [ laughs ].”
One artist who never got played at home was fellow Canadian Joni Mitchell . As Rufus explains in a “ making of ” -style YouTube documentary about Unfollow the Rules , Mitchell ’ s music was verboten in the house because of Kate McGarrigle ’ s feeling that she wasn ’ t a true folk artist . “ So , somehow for her , Joni Mitchell was a fraud in her mind … but then the other side is that I think my mother was incredibly jealous .” Fast-forward many years and his husband became a huge Joni Mitchell fan , leading Wainwright to finally dig into her catalogue . “ I , of course , was blown away ,” he says , and he then wrote one of Unfollow the Rules ’ standout songs , “ Damsel in Distress .” When his sister , Martha , heard the song , which is propelled along by this fantastic rhythm of layered steel and nylon guitars and flourishes of hand claps , tremolo-heavy electric guitar , and flute , she told Rufus , “ Oh , that ’ s a
Joni Mitchell song .” Though he may not have ever changed his mother ’ s mind about Joni Mitchell , Rufus does thinks he broadened his mother ’ s musical horizons in other ways . His father , however , probably not so much . “ I think I challenged my father and continue to , and there ’ s maybe something in the sparring that occurs between us occasionally that is good for each of us artistically . But I think we ’ re pretty firmly rooted in our own camps ,” he says , contemplating whether , as he found his own style and voice , he influenced his parents ’ musical sensibilities . “ My mother , on the other hand , really joined me on my operatic journey when I discovered opera at 13 and really became , sort of , my central inspiration . She knew about opera , but she hadn ’ t really been to that many and she didn ’ t really understand the intricacy of it , so she came along with me on that and I think that definitely affected her musical sensibilities , somewhat . But , I mean , she was still a folky to the end .”
Maybe it shouldn ’ t be a surprise , but Kate McGarrigle ’ s lasting influence on her son seems to be a reoccurring theme in his conversation with Canadian Musician . It wasn ’ t necessarily the intention , as there ’ s only so many questions you can ask about someone ’ s famous parents before it ’ s off-putting , but Wainwright freely brings her up many times . For instance , where did the internal drive come from that sees him still practice piano daily , or leave popular music to spend seven years immersed in writing and performing two well-received operas , or release an album of Shakespeare sonnets ?
“ A lot of it is from my mother , really , I have to say . In the sense that every song that she ever wrote , it was very kind of infused with the blood . There was this desperation or this desire or hunger that she had for songwriting that she could never really relax about . It was this real double-edged sword for her . Even when you look at all of her work over the years , there was never a dissent in the quality . Even up to her last song that she wrote , ‘ Proserpina ,’ there is this constant upward motion of excellence . So , I think I ’ m emulating that , or trying to ,” he says .
In emulating his mother , Wainwright says he ’ s spent his artistic life pursuing greatness , and that pursuit has been focused and precise .
“ When I was writing songs early on , I was far more serious about the process in the sense , like , I really put myself through the wringer , in terms of lyrics and melody . I would go out and search for things , for experiences , and put myself in harm ’ s way occasionally for that , to kind of grasp that feeling or have that inspiration . That was about really constructing my sound and me trying to differentiate myself , and I worked very hard at that for many years when I was very young and then it paid off ,” he explains . “ I think once I was sort in my element , after a couple of records , then I started really working on production . Like , what is the sound in the studio that I ’ m going for ? And
PHOTO : V . TONY HAUSER
36 CANADIAN MUSICIAN