Rufus Wainwright introduced himself to the world with his 1998 self-titled album, which earned a GLAAD Award and Juno Award. In the years since, Wainwright has composed two full-scale operas, adapted William Shakespeare’s sonnets into music, and released more than a dozen albums.
His upcoming record, titled “Folkocracy,” is a collection of folk songs reimagined with the help of other musicians, including Chaka Khan, Sheryl Crow, David Byrne, and more. He’s also performing at the Walt Disney Concert Hall on June 2, the same day the album is released.
Wainwright is fresh off of the European tour of his latest opera “Hadrian,” based on the life of the Roman emperor of the same name. He tells KCRW it’s been challenging to navigate the classical music world.
“It can be tough waters, that world, especially when someone like me, who's an outsider, is attempting to find a place,” he says. “Nobody knew what to expect.”
Describing that difficulty, he says, “I wasn’t an academic. I was writing melodic work, and it was very heavily influenced by the romantic school, my first love of opera. And it wasn't this earth-shattering, modern, avant garde piece that people [would] like to maybe go see, but don't necessarily want to buy the record of.”
“Down in the Willow Garden” is an Appalachian folk song featured on “Folkocracy,” featuring Brandi Carlile. Referred to as a “murder ballad,” the tune follows the story of a man who killed a woman he’s in love with.
Wainwright compares the song to the old German fairy tales that were often brutal, but also included a lesson: “A lot of those songs were written as kind of news bulletins at the time to let people know what had gone on in the next town over, as mostly a cautionary tale.”
Wainwright first discovered the song on the 1958 Everly Brothers album “Songs Our Daddy Taught Us.” He says it caught his attention because it reminded him of his own journey uncovering folk music when he was younger.
“Harvest” is a cover of Neil Young’s song of the same name and features Andrew Bird and Chris Stills. Wainwright’s version is more upbeat, which he says gives his new record a much-needed moment of warmth.
Wainwright says part of his goal with “Folkocracy” was getting some of his favorite artists all in the same room.
“This experience for me was just … diving into these different songs and this material and having lovely afternoons with friends. And then mixing it and then offering it to the public, and then doing it live in a show.”
He adds, “We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel here. We're doing something that has been traditionally done for a very long time. … It's about that tradition, which I think will become more important as the world becomes more confusing.”