Meet The Wainwrights

[Jarlath]

10.30 Saturday 9th August on BBC Radio 4. Up now on the iplayer

Nina Myskow talks to Rufus and Martha Wainwright, acclaimed singer songwriters, children of folk singers Loudon Wainwright III and the late Kate McGarrigle.

Rufus is the Grammy-nominated creator of pop songs, described by Elton John as the greatest songwriter of our generation. Martha has carved her own quirky musical niche. Both have followed the family tradition - rejection, hurt, betrayal, all laid bare in confessional songs about each other. For all of them, the very personal is material to be translated into song.

Over the course of a month, Nina Myskov sat down with Rufus in London, with Loudon in uptown New York, and with Martha in Brooklyn - to try to understand this generational conversation expressed through song.

Love, sadness, bitterness and loss revealed to public scrutiny. How cathartic is the writing process? Were songs written out of revenge? Looking back, now that the dust has settled, do any of them regret writing such revelatory barbs about their close family?

Presenter: Nina Myskow

Producer: Barney Rowntree
A Wise Buddah production for BBC Radio 4.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04d0hxs

[AndyM]

Thanks for the tip-off, I shall take a listen.

[Adam Blake]

Funnily enough, I found Loudon Wainright's 2nd album lurking in the archives the day before yesterday. One of the many knackered albums I used to pick up for a buck apiece in N.Cal. I had forgotten I had it. I bunged it on and was amazed afresh at how astringent it is. You could never imagine anything like that getting a deal nowadays, leave alone major distribution and all the tomflummery that went with it in the early 70s. Makes Leonard Cohen sound like easy listening. But then, just as before, that black humour got me and I found myself chuckling. Whatever his kids have done to him, I am sure he deserved it with whipped cream and glace cherries on top.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7nIdg-CTQk

And then there's this, upon which I will not comment:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XB81CczTEdw

[alister prince]

Nice find, thanks. It brought back memories of being very stoned with a bunch of fellow students killing ourselves laughing at Mr Wainright. His humour hit the spot , the zeitgeist etc.
Aly

[will vine]

I'll give it a listen. Nina Myskow is as intriguing part of this as any of the others. I only know her as being a bit brash. Maybe I've got her wrong. Interesting. Thanks for the tip