C A N N O P Y
Art is True North
Rufus Wainwright’s Folkocracy
Returning to his folk roots, the Canadian songmaster finds a new musical family
WORDS BY RACHEL WINDSOR | LOS ANGELES | HOMEGROWN
JUN 21, 2023 | ISSUE 12
Rufus Wainwright by Tony Hauser
“The horizon has started to show itself a little bit and you do start to recap a little bit of your experience and you realize there are people who are no longer with us and or in your life. And there we are, you do end up alone in the end.” Rufus Wainwright
Rufus Wainwright by Miranda Penn Turin
FOLKOCRACY
sM | Was there a rhyme and reason to assembling this cast of collaborators or were you more so listening to who each song was asking for?
RW ── I mean, it was a combination of many things. I think if anything it's a testament to LA not only having great weather. But if you live here there are certain perks and one of them is that it's not hard to get in touch with a lot of different types of musicians who call LA their home. I wanted to do a lot of duets on this record, I do feel like with folk music, one of the main tenants is that it's about group singing. It's about harmonizing, and it's about sharing songs with friends and so forth. We had a limited amount of time and so we just kind of sent out the call with some wishlists and that's who came in.