Accessibility links
Loudon Wainwright III Loudon Wainwright III artist page: interviews, features and/or performances archived at NPR Music

Loudon Wainwright III

New Mix: Maren Morris, Sam Amidon, Palberta, Gulfer, More

Clockwise from upper left: Purple Witch of Culver, Sam Amidon, Palberta, Gulfer, Maren Morris Courtesy of the artists hide caption

toggle caption
Courtesy of the artists

All Songs Considered

New Mix: Maren Morris, Sam Amidon, Palberta, Gulfer, More

NPR Music's Bob Boilen and Marissa Lorusso share songs that call for unity and self-reflection in turbulent times.

New Mix: Maren Morris, Sam Amidon, Palberta, Gulfer, More

Listen · 37:01
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/920557555/920563686" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Loudon Wainwright III: 'Please Discover Me Now!'

Singer-songwriter and actor Loudon Wainwright III performs on Ask Me Another at The Bell House in Brooklyn, New York. Mike Katzif/NPR hide caption

toggle caption
Mike Katzif/NPR

Ask Me Another

Loudon Wainwright III: 'Please Discover Me Now!'

Singer-songwriter Loudon Wainwright III joins us to read some clues and play some tunes, including a new song in which he imagines what a world in which Donald Trump became President.

Loudon Wainwright III: 'Please Discover Me Now!'

Listen · 18:28
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/486627814/486912606" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Loudon Wainwright III On Mountain Stage

Loudon Wainwright III. Brian Blauser/Mountain Stage hide caption

toggle caption
Brian Blauser/Mountain Stage

Mountain Stage

Loudon Wainwright III On Mountain Stage

The singer-songwriter gives a unique and unexpectedly personal performance, recorded live at the Culture Center Theater in Charleston, W.Va.

Loudon Wainwright III On Mountain Stage

  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/185523584/184570654" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Loudon Wainwright III Looks Back At His 'Old Man'

Review

Music Reviews

Loudon Wainwright III Looks Back At His 'Old Man'

Fresh Air

Over the past four decades, the singer has chronicled his relationships with his ex-wife, the late Kate McGarrigle, and his children, the singers Rufus and Martha Wainwright. His new album, Older Than My Old Man Now, addresses his relationship with yet another family member: his father.

Loudon Wainwright III Looks Back At His 'Old Man'

Listen · 7:11
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/150720671/150720675" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Richard Thompson And Loudon Wainwright III On World Cafe

Richard Thompson and Loudon Wainwright III recently performed a session together for World Cafe. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

toggle caption
Courtesy of the artist

World Cafe

Richard Thompson And Loudon Wainwright III On World Cafe

WXPN

The two folk-rock legends describe how they began performing with one another for the Loud and Rich Tour. Wainwright and Thompson also play songs together as part of the 2011 Cayamo Cruise.

Richard Thompson And Loudon Wainwright III On World Cafe

Loudon Wainwright III Looks Back At '40 Odd Years'

Loudon Wainwright III. Ross Halfin/Shout Factory hide caption

toggle caption
Ross Halfin/Shout Factory

Review

Music Reviews

Loudon Wainwright III Looks Back At '40 Odd Years'

Fresh Air

Wainwright has just released an elaborate box-set career retrospective called 40 Odd Years — and the pun in the title is definitely intended. Rock critic Ken Tucker says it presents the singer-songwriter just the way his music does, artful warts and all.

Loudon Wainwright III Looks Back At '40 Odd Years'

Listen · 6:30
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/136141186/136170466" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Loudon Wainwright III On Mountain Stage

Loudon Wainwright III performed on Mountain Stage. Brian Blauser/Mountain Stage hide caption

toggle caption
Brian Blauser/Mountain Stage

Mountain Stage

Loudon Wainwright III On Mountain Stage

Wainwright has been performing on Mountain Stage since 1988. Now, he takes the stage as a Grammy winner, having won Best Traditional Folk Album in 2010 for High, Wide and Handsome: The Charlie Poole Project. The album's songs were written or inspired by the legendary banjo player.

Listen Now: Loudon Wainwright III In Concert

  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/126909728/126855959" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Music

Loudon Wainwright's 'Charlie Poole Project'

Fresh Air

Singer-songwriter Loudon Wainwright III won a Grammy in January for his recent album paying tribute to an old-time country banjo player who died in 1931. Called High Wide and Handsome: The Charlie Poole Project, the double album features nine new songs, plus a raft of tunes made popular by Poole, a country-music pioneer.

Loudon Wainwright's 'Charlie Poole Project'

Listen · 44:54
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/123584880/123604512" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Loudon Wainwright III: Paying Tribute

Loudon Wainwright III Courtesy of the artist hide caption

toggle caption
Courtesy of the artist

World Cafe

Loudon Wainwright III: Paying Tribute

WXPN

Drawing inspiration from Charlie Poole, Wainwright has assembled something of a memorial to the influential but under-appreciated Prohibition-era banjo player. High Wide & Handsome: The Charlie Poole Project is a mixture of standards associated with Poole and new songs which expand upon his life story.

Loudon Wainwright III: Paying Tribute

Music Interviews

A 'Handsome' Tribute From Loudon Wainwright

Fresh Air

The singer and songwriter's new double album, High Wide and Handsome: The Charlie Poole Project, is a tribute to the old-time country banjo player who died in 1931.

A 'Handsome' Tribute From Loudon Wainwright

Listen · 48:09
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/112023188/112023187" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Opinion

Hard Times

Loudon Wainwright III: 'Times Is Hard'

The veteran songwriter and actor — a frequent musical commentator on NPR over the past two decades — has penned a new song about today's sinking economic tide. And true to form, it's not quite intended to cheer us up.

Loudon Wainwright III: 'Times Is Hard'

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/100261261/100256269" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Mountain Stage

Loudon Wainwright III On Mountain Stage

Loudon Wainwright III has married and raised several fellow musicians, and the singer-songwriter still manages to update even his oldest songs with a 21st-century bent. Fresh off his role in Knocked Up, Wainwright plays Mountain Stage.

Listen Now: Loudon Wainwright III On Mountain Stage

  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/93736826/93737308" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Browse archive or search npr.org