A Conversation With Rufus Wainwright

Like his famaous parents, Rufus Wainwright sings for his supper.

THE MORNING CALL | Sept. 18, 2004

Unlike his parents, folk-music icons Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle, Rufus Wainwright has never been to Bethlehem.

“Is it bucolic?” he asks waspishly on the telephone. “I’ve been in New York City and am in need of a bit of the pastoral.”

Wainwright will make his inaugural visit to Bethlehem next Saturday to perform his lush, theatrical pop songs at Lehigh University’s Zoellner Arts Center. That he might expect the one-time steel town and current tourist mecca to be a place of bucolic fields and quaint provincals is somewhat perplexing. But the 31-year-old singer-songwriter’s weariness is understandable. He has been toiling diligently to finish the follow-up to his 2003 disc, “Want One.”

At Zoellner, Wainwright intends to preview music from the new album, “Want Two,” which isn’t due out until November, although a few of the new songs are available online at iTunes.

He notes that the music for both “Want One” and “Want Two” was written around the same time. “I was going to release it all as a double album, but the record company wasn’t so hot on the idea,” he says.

Why?

“I think it’s because when they release a double record, retailers really jack up the price, even though it doesn’t cost any more to make,” he theorizes drolly.

Wainwright, however, also offers a more pragmatic reason. “I do believe my songs, being mostly slow, and the way they are produced, two full albums would be lethal to listeners.”

Rufus Wainwright’s 2003 debut album, “Want One.”

No argument here. Wainwright’s music goes for the baroque, and is steeped not only in Tin Pan Alley and the musical stage, but also opera.

“When I got into opera, that became my big influence,” he enthuses. “That’s my main squeeze.”

Still, Wainwright has a hard time picking a favorite composer, although Giuseppe Verdi figures prominently. “They’re all amazing when I get down to it. I say I’m a Verdian. I can’t really choose which one composer I like best, so I say I’m a Verdian because I like his work a lot.”

The many influences that come into play in Wainwright’s music is part of the reason he has been so widely acclaimed — and a lot of those influences comes from his childhood.

Born in Rhinebeck, N.Y., Wainwright was raised by McGarrigle in Quebec after his parents divorced. “When it was obvious we were going into music, my mother just kind of honed in on that,” says Wainwright. “It was crucial in my development. She was responsible up to a point, especially with her knowledge of French music, folk music and songwriters — especially [music] business songwriters.”

McGarrigle influenced her son in other ways as well, making Wainwright sing “Over The Rainbow” as a child. It’s a song he still likes.

“I very much grew up with “Somewhere Over The Rainbow.’ I definitely identify with [Judy Garland’s] dilemma of being chained to the footlights. It’s a personal thing, too. I’m amazed at how much her name still comes up in pop culture.”

So how does Wainwright remember his childhood?

“It was a charmed existence,” he replies. “With both of my parents being musicians, the idea of getting a real job behind a desk was very much frowned upon.”

Coming out when he was 14, Wainwright has never tried to hide his homosexuality. “I think fans appreciate knowing the truth,” he says. “I’m one of the first people signed to a major label who was very open about their sexuality. I’m proud of that mantle. I own that mantle,” he adds with mock theatricality.

Still Wainwright knows he has paid a price for his candor. “I think I paid for it in the beginning, but the reward outweighed the cost. I may have missed certain opportunities to be slutted to death,” he says with a laugh. “But I did it on my own terms.”

Wainwright impishly mentions Cole Porter as a role model. “I don’t know about his personal life. I think anyone who’s fabulously wealthy is a great role model,” he says laughing.

“But I like the way he worked, the way he wrote and the way he infused songs with soul and personal dilemma. … It’s that combination of wit and weariness that he always pulled off so well. I try to do it in my songs. I want to make it easy on the listener while ripping their hearts out from under them.”

Wainwright’s eclecticism as an artist has won him a diverse fan base. “I just have a wide range of fans,” he says. “I like to think that I get a lot of kids that can’t stand their parents and a lot of parents that can’t stand their kids.”

Since his self-titled debut in 1998, Wainwright’s music has continued to develop, almost mirroring the way he has cleansed the drugs and alcohol from his personal life.

“It was just the logical conclusion of where I was,” he says of his early work. “The music was very different from where I am now, but I still like it. It was just another world.

“I learned in the last few years that all that crap about morality and karma, all that stuff really does exist,” he continues. “It may be tougher to do, and less exciting at times, but it pays off in the end. I think it was necessary for me to become a full human.”

(When told that bartenders have been known to complain that his fans mostly order tea — in keeping with Wainwright’s new sobriety — Wainwright says, “Everyone should loosen up.”)

Wainwright has started to become politically involved as well.

“I worked with moveon.org and did another anti-Bush show with Karen Finley and Boy George on the first night of [the Republican National Convention]. I also befriended someone who was arrested. It was scary. He was thrown into a dirty bus depot without proper holding areas. He still has bruises. His bicycle and cell phone were taken and not returned.”

Yet politics remains a sidelight to his true love — music — and despite his confidence Wainwright still seems somewhat surprised at his growing reputation as a songwriter, and that his songs are being recorded by other artists.

“The Manhattan Transfer just covered one on their new album. So did The Beautiful South. It’s a great honor,” he says.

Of course, Wainwright isn’t entirely unfamiliar with all this.

“It’s very much something I grew up with. That’s very much how my mother and aunt [Anna McGarrigle] made their living,” he says. “They didn’t really tour a lot, so they made their living by other people covering their songs. Linda Rondstat covered [one], and I went to boarding school.”