By Wil Comstock
MCAU Contributing Writer
Friday (Sept. 22) at the Westin
Friends of Folk:
A Conversation with Emmylou Harris and Rufus Wainwright
Moderated by Celia Gregory
Emmylou Harris and Rufus Wainwright told their stories during an insightful interview at The Westin in downtown Nashville.
Emmylou met Rufus’ mother, Kate McGarrigle, through Linda Ronstadt. Kate of the folk duo The McGarrigle Sisters wrote “Heart Like a Wheel,” which Linda recorded in the 1970s. Harris recorded the Kate’s and sister Anna’s “Love Is” in the early 1980s, inviting them to Nashville to sing backing vocals, where a friendship was born.
Celia asked what impression they had of folk music growing up. Wainwright responded, “I had no concept of the real world other than folk. My first crib was a guitar case.” Rufus’ father is folk singer Loudon Wainwright. His parents divorced when he was 3 and he was raised by his mother in Montreal.
Harris said she had no concept of folk music at all. In her teens she listened to a radio show out of DC that played folk, and she was hooked. She asked her parents for a guitar and began to play the songs off the radio.
Rufus injected that he started out in folk and then explored opera and show tunes. He recently returned to folk with his new album “Folkocracy.”
Emmylou said that she wanted to write with people she loved. She would invite Anna and Kate to Nashville to write and would travel to Montreal to visit them and write. She loved that Kate and Loudon remained friends after their divorce and that their children all got along. She felt embraced by this extended family that also included Richard and Linda Thompson.
When asked if they felt their parents encouraged them in music, Rufus said his mother Kate gave him great confidence. He told the story that when he was 6 months old, she would sing “Old McDonald,” and he would sing the “E, I, E, I, O.” Rufus had his doubts if that was actually true.
Emmylou said her parents paid for piano and sax lessons when she was an adolescent. They knew she could carry a tune. But they were strict.
Celia asked if they encouraged their own children to go into music. Wainwright admitted, “That is a difficult question. We live in LA, and the arts are all around us. My daughter Viva, whose birth mother is Leonard Cohen’s daughter, has a nice voice. We want her to make her own choices.”
Harris added, “The most important thing for your child, really all of us, is to find your passion.”
(Text by Wil Comstock)
(Photos by Chuck Whiting)
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