Loudon Wainwright III

"LW3" redirects here. For the film, see Lethal Weapon 3.

Loudon Wainwright III
Wainwright III performing at the Kent State Folk Festival in Kent, Ohio, November 18, 2006
Background information
Birth name	Loudon Snowden Wainwright III
Born	September 5, 1946 (1946-09-05) (age 65) Chapel Hill, North Carolina, U.S.
Genres	Folk Rock Blues Comedy
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, actor, humorist
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, piano, banjo, percussion, ukulele
Years active	1967–present
Labels	Atlantic, Columbia, Legacy, Arista, Radar, Rounder, Silvertone, Charisma, Virgin, Hannibal, Red House, Sanctuary Records, 2nd Story Sound Records, Sovereign Artists, Concord, Proper Records
Associated acts	Kate and Anna McGarrigle, White Cloud, George Gerdes, Richard Thompson, Chaim Tannenbaum, Spinal Tap, The Roches, Rufus Wainwright, Martha Wainwright, Lucy Wainwright Roche, Joe Henry
Website	www.lw3.com

Loudon Snowden Wainwright III (born September 5, 1946) is a Grammy Award-winning American songwriter, folk singer, humorist, and actor. He is the father of musicians Rufus Wainwright, Martha Wainwright and Lucy Wainwright Roche, brother of Sloan Wainwright, and the former husband of the late folk singer Kate McGarrigle.

To date, Wainwright has released 21 studio albums. Reflecting upon his career, in 1999, Wainwright stated "you could characterize the catalog as somewhat checkered, although I prefer to think of it as a tapestry."^[1]

Early life

Wainwright was born in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, the son of Martha Taylor, a yoga teacher, and Loudon Wainwright, Jr., a columnist and editor for Life magazine.^[2] Wainwright grew up in Bedford, New York, in Westchester County. Among his sisters is Sloan Wainwright, also a singer. He graduated from St. Andrew's School in Delaware. He is a direct descendant of Peter Stuyvesant, the last Director-General of New Netherland^[3] (present-day New York State).

Career

Wainwright's career began in the late 1960s. He had played the guitar while in school but later sold it for yoga lessons while living in San Francisco. Later, in Rhode Island, Wainwright's grandmother got him a job working in a boatyard. An old lobsterman named Edgar inspired him to borrow a friend's guitar and write his first song, "Edgar". Wainwright soon bought his own guitar and in about a year wrote nearly twenty songs. He went to Boston and New York City to play in folk clubs and was eventually "discovered" by Milton Kramer, who became his manager. He acquired a record deal with Atlantic Records, who released his first album in 1970.

Wainwright is perhaps best known for the 1972 novelty song Dead Skunk (in the Middle of the Road) and for playing Captain Calvin Spalding (the "singing surgeon") on the American television show, M*A*S*H. His appearances spanned three episodes in its third season (1974–1975), including the episode "Rainbow Bridge".^[4]

Using a witty, self-mocking style, Wainwright has recorded over twenty albums on eleven different labels. Two of his albums have been nominated for Grammy Awards: I'm Alright (1985) and More Love Songs (1986).^[5] He won the Grammy for Best Traditional Folk Album ("High Wide & Handsome") in January 2010.

Wainwright has also appeared in a number of films, including small parts in The Aviator, Big Fish, Elizabethtown, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up and the television series, Undeclared and Parks and Recreation.^[4] In the UK he recorded sessions for John Peel from 1971 onwards and appeared on a simultaneous broadcast on BBC TV and on Radio 1 in February 1978 (known as Sight and Sound in Concert).^[6] However, it was in the late 1980s that he gained much wider popularity in Britain when he appeared as the resident singer with comedian Jasper Carrott in his UK show, Carrott Confidential, and has remained popular in the UK ever since.

He appeared as a musical guest on Saturday Night Live, the first season's 5th episode that was broadcast on November 15, 1975. He performed "Bicentennial" and "Unrequited to the Nth Degree" as a guest to Robert Klein.

An older picture of Wainwright performing

Wainwright has claimed that, like many of his contemporaries, he was inspired musically by seeing Bob Dylan at the Newport Folk Festival in 1963. He was one of many young folksingers tagged as the "new Dylan" in the early 1970s, a fact that he later ruefully satirized in his song, "Talking New Bob Dylan", from History (1992).^[5]

Wainwright was also a judge for the 4th annual Independent Music Awards.^[7]

According to his own liner notes, Wainwright entered a period of deep depression following the death of his mother in 1997 and believed he could never write again. Retreating to his mother's cabin in the woods, he underwent therapy and gradually recovered, eventually recording the soul-baring Last Man on Earth in 2001. Since then his recording career has mostly returned to its previous frequency.

In September 2006, Wainwright and musician Joe Henry began composing the music to the Judd Apatow film, Knocked Up, which was released on June 1, 2007. In addition to composing the soundtrack, Wainwright appeared in the film in a supporting role as the protagonists' obstetrician.^[8] He has also composed music for the new theatre production of Carl Hiassen's Lucky You, which premiered at the 2008 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.^[9]

Personal life

Wainwright was married to the late singer/songwriter Kate McGarrigle. During their marriage, which ended in divorce, they had two children, Rufus and Martha. Rufus was the inspiration behind two of Wainwright's songs; "Rufus is a Tit Man" (referring to Rufus during breastfeeding), and "A Father and a Son", a retrospective. Wainwright's songs inspired by Martha are "Pretty Little Martha" (composed about her as an infant), "Five Years Old", (about her fifth birthday), and the brutally honest "Hitting You" (about her teenage years). Both Rufus and Martha are also singer/songwriters. Rufus composed "Dinner at Eight" about a family dispute in the Wainwright household. Martha composed the song "Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole" about, according to her, her father.^[10] She and Wainwright collaborated on the song "You Never Phone" (on Wainwright's 2003 album So Damn Happy), and they sang a duet together on the song "Father Daughter Dialogue" (on Wainwrights' 1995 album "Grown Man"). Wainwright has another daughter, Lucy Wainwright Roche (by the singer Suzzy Roche).

Wainwright remarried in 2005.

Discography

Studio albums

• Loudon Wainwright III (1970)
• Album II (1971)
• Album III (1972)
• Attempted Mustache (1973)
• Unrequited (1975)
• T Shirt (1976)
• Final Exam (1978)
• Fame and Wealth (1983)
• I'm Alright (1985)
• More Love Songs (1986)
• Therapy (1989)
• History (1992)
• Grown Man (1995)
• Little Ship (1997)
• Social Studies (1999)
• Last Man on Earth (2001)
• Here Come the Choppers (2005)
• Strange Weirdos (2007)
• Recovery (2008)
• High Wide & Handsome: The Charlie Poole Project (2009)
• 10 Songs for the New Depression (2010)

Live albums

• A Live One (1979)
• Career Moves (1993)
• So Damn Happy (2003)

Compilations

• One Man Guy: The Best of Loudon Wainwright III 1982–1986 (1994)
• The BBC Sessions (1998)
• 40 Odd Years (2011)

Singles

• "Dead Skunk" / "Needless to Say" (1973) (U.S. Pop #16)
• "Down Drinking at the Bar" / "I Am the Way" (1974)
• "Five Years Old" / "Rambunctious" (1983, Demon)
• "Five years old" / "The Grammy song" (1983, Rounder)
• "Cardboard Boxes" / "Colours" (1985, Demon)
• "Unhappy Anniversary" / "The Acid Song" (1986, Demon)
• "Thank You, Girl" (John Hiatt) / "My Girl" (with John Hiatt) (1987)
• "Your Mother and I" / "At the End of a Long Lonely Day" (with John Hiatt) (1987)
• "T.S.D.H.A.V." / "Nice Guys" (1989, Silvertone)
• "Jesse Don't Like It" (live) / "T.S.D.H.A.V." (live) (1990, Hannibal)
• "Silent Night, Holy Night" (Terry Callier) / "The Little Drummer Boy" (John Scofield & Loudon Wainwright) Verve records, 1999
• "Y2K" (Rykodisc, 1999)
• "Nanny" (Evangeline, 2005)

Promotional discs

• "Bell bottom pants"-mono / "Bell bottom pants"-stereo, 1973, Columbia 45 rpm
• "The Swimming song"-stereo / "The Swimming song"-mono", 1973 Columbia 45 rpm
• "Bicentennial"-mono / "Bicentennial"-stereo, 1976 Arista 45 rpm
• "This year" -one sided disc, 1988 Silvertone 45 rpm
• "Y2K" 6 track radio edits of the song "Y2K" Rykodisc
• "History promo #1" Talking new Bob Dylan, Hitting you, People in love, Virgin, 1992
• "History promo #2" The Doctor, When I'm at your house, So many songs, Men, Virgin, 1992
• "History promo #3" People in love, Virgin, 1992
• "Career moves" promo, Suddenly it's Christmas, Virgin, 1993
• "Grown man" promo, 1994, IWIWAL (I wish I was a lesbian, Cobwebs, Grown man, Virgin, 1995
• "Little ship" promo, Mr. Ambivalent, Virgin, 1997
• "So Damn Happy" promo #1, Something for nothing", Sanctuary, 2003
• "So damn happy" promo #2, The Picture, The Shit song (Radio edit) You never phone, Sanctuary records, 2003
• "Daughter" from Strange weirdos, Concord records, 2007

Contributions

• The New Age of Atlantic – "Motel Blues" (1972)
• Earl Scruggs Review Anniversary Special, Volume One – "Swimming Song", "Gospel Ship" (1975)
• Nyon Folk Festival – "The Waitress Song" (1979)
• Feed the Folk – "Outsidey" (1985)
• The Slugger's Wife Soundtrack – "Hey, Hey, My My" (with Rebecca De Mornay) (1985)
• From Hell to Obscurity – "Colours", "At the End of a Long Lonely Day" (with John Hiatt), "My Girl" (with John Hiatt) (1989)
• Super Hits of the '70s: Have a Nice Day, Vol. 10 – "Dead Skunk" (1990, Rhino)
• 70s Greatest Rock, Vol. 10: Hitchin' a Ride – "Dead Skunk" (1991, Priority)
• Dr. Demento Presents..., Vol. 4: The 1970s – "Dead Skunk"
• Signed, Sealed, Delivered – "Virgin 21" (1994, Virgin, UK)
• Life in the Folk Lane II – "Hard Day on the Planet" (1994, Diablo/Demon)
• Beat the Retreat: Songs by Richard Thompson – "A Heart Needs a Home" (with Shawn Colvin) (1995, Capitol)
• Troubadours of Folk, Vol. 4: The '70s – "Old Friend" (1995, Rhino)
• Golfs Greatest Hits – "Golfin' Blues" (1996, Teed Off Records, distributed by BMG)
• The Best of Mountain Stage, Volume 1 – "Bill of Goods" (1996, Blue Plate Music)
• Mellow Rock Hits of the '70s: Sundown – "Glad to See You've Got Religion" (1997, Rhino)
• Soft Rock Classics – "Glad to See You've Got Religion" (1998, Rhino)
• KBCO Studio C, Volume 4 – "Cardboard Boxes" (KBCO)
• Family Album – "The Picture" (1998, Gadfly)
• Best of the Cambridge Folk Festival, 1977–1997 – Medley: "The Swimming Song/Pretty Little Martha/Dump the Dog" (1998)
• Welcome to High Sierra – "Primrose Hill" (1998, High Sierra)
• Bleecker Street – "Pack Up Your Sorrows" (with Iris DeMent) (1999, Astor Place)
• Live at the World Café - Volume 9 (1999) – "Sunday Times"
• Seka – Sister, Volume 2 – "Pretty Good Day" (2000, Twah!)
• Si Dolce – "I am the Way", "The Last Day", "Road Ode", "Five Years Old" (2000)
• 28 Days Soundtrack – "Heaven and Mud", "Drinking Song", "White Winos", "Dreaming" (2000, Uni/Varèse Sarabande)
• Washington Square Memoirs: The Great Urban Folk Boom (1950–1970) – "School Days" (2001, Rhino)
• Love Songs For New York: Wish You Were Here – "No Sure Way" (2002, Megaforce)
• 107.1 KGSR Radio Austin – Broadcasts Vol.10 (2002) – "No Sure Way"
• The Aviator: Music From The Motion Picture – "After You've Gone" (2004) [Columbia/Sony Music Soundtrax]
• Golden Slumbers: A Father's Love – "Daughter" (2005, Rendezvous)
• Rogue's Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs, and Chanteys – "Turkish Revelry", "Good Ship Venus" (2006, ANTI-)

Filmography

• M*A*S*H (1975) (TV) .... Capt. Calvin Spaulding, the singing surgeon
• The T.V. Show (1979) (TV) .... Dead Man on Telethon/Spinal Tap Keyboardist
• The Slugger's Wife (1985) .... Gary
• Jacknife (1989) .... Ferretti
• 28 Days (2000) .... Guitar guy
• Undeclared (2001) TV Series .... Hal Karp
• Big Fish (2003) .... Beamen
• The Aviator (2004) .... Cocoanut Grove Vocalist #2
• The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005) .... Priest
• Elizabethtown (2005) .... Uncle Dale
• For Your Consideration (2006) .... Nominee Ben Connelly
• Knocked Up (2007) .... Dr. Everett Howard (also composed music)
• G-Force (2009) .... Grandpa Goodman

References

1. ^ http://www.lw3.com/news.php?section=articles&article=7
2. ^ Loudon Wainwright, III Biography (1946–)
3. ^ "Loudon Wainwright III". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p2160/biography. Retrieved October 27, 2006. 
4. ^ ^{a b} imdb.com – Loudon Wainwright III Retrieved October 6, 2008
5. ^ ^{a b} "Loudon Wainwright III Web Site: Bio". http://www.lw3.com/about.html. Retrieved 2011-08-25. 
6. ^ BFI Film & TV Database Retrieved January 16, 2011
7. ^ Independent Music Awards – Past Judges.
8. ^ imdb.com – Knocked Up Retrieved October 6, 2008
9. ^ "Carl Hiaasen's Lucky You". Edinburgh Festival Fringe. http://www.assemblyfestival.com/webpages/whatson_moreinfobooknow.php?id=3:1212211207&. Retrieved July 16, 2008. 
10. ^ Richard Jinman (April 15, 2005). "The Guardian profile: The Wainwrights". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2005/apr/15/usa.popandrock. 

External links

• Official website
• Short autobiography
• Transcript of an autobiographical speech given for the Ohio University Spring Literary Festival
• Loudon Wainwright III on VH1
• Loudon Wainwright III at the Internet Movie Database
• “The Guardian profile: The Wainwrights” by Richard Jinman. Published by The Guardian on 2005-04-15.
• Perfect Sound Together interview
• Allmusic
• Video of Wainwright from the Kennedy Center – October 13, 1999
• Kennedy Center article
• Discography review
• Myspace site

Persondata
Name	Wainwright, Loudon, III
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Date of birth	September 5, 1946
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