Growing up, Rufus Wainwright's life resembled something like a deep-fried musical. "It was like Broadway in Hicksville in terms of the musical fare," says the 31-year-old, Canadian singer-songwriter. As son of folk singers Loudon Wainwright III (who would reference his son in such songs as "Rufus Is a Tit Man") and Kate McGarrigle, and brother of singer Martha Wainwright, it's only fitting that the family sang to their own tune. "My mom was much more into Pete Seeger and learning old murder ballads or French-Canadian folk songs. So the minute I started singing something from Hello Dolly or Funny Girl, I would be sort of locked in the closet. Which is ironic."
Wainwright, a vocally gay diva who recently told the Chicago Sun-Times that he thought he was Judy Garland when he was a boy, speaks lightly and with ease about even the most personal topics. The piano-playing Adonis doesn't shy away from his sexuality, or much of anything in his music, which has made him slightly controversial among the red-state crowd. With songs like "Gay Messiah" and "Old Whore's Diet," Wainwright's brutally honest wit weaves songs that are at once political and personal. He speaks openly about past struggles with crystal meth that led him into rehab three years ago, and sings of the pain brought on by his father when his parents divorced during his childhood. And though many of his works are self-referential, he's also, almost unwittingly, become a protest singer.
"I remember, years ago, starting my career and expressly saying that I was not a political person, about gay rights or civil liberties or war or anything, I was solely an artist who lived to create great music," he says. "And it's really come full circle. I feel literally forced by events around me to speak up about my beliefs."
He's produced four albums since 1998, with music that's a little bit Leonard Cohen and a touch Jeff Buckley, set to the lively carnival of a Broadway musical. Wainwright primarily appeals to angst-loving listeners in their later 20s and early 30s, but he has received more attention and broader exposure recently, taking a spin at Hollywood with musician roles in The Aviator and Heights. Eventually, he'd like to work his way into theater. But for now, he's concentrating on his next album. Though most of the music has yet to be put on paper, Wainwright knows his style is about to withstand a make-under.
"I would like to really cut back on a lot of production and make it the polar opposite of Want One and concentrate more on the simplicity of the recordings and the directness of the music," says Wainwright. "My plan is to make the same shift that Hitchcock made when he went from making big, color, Hollywood extravaganzas to making Psycho. That's my dream. I want to go black and white."
Three of his news songs have made it into the Odd Men Out tour, where Wainwright's joined by fellow piano aficionado Ben Folds and Australian singer-songwriter Ben Lee. With a signature hint of ego-laced humor, Wainwright says the combination of the three has so far been near-perfect.
"There's such a wide variety of emotions when you put all of us together, and the audience seems to just eat it up. It's quite funny because I've done other tours with artists where I'm constantly complaining about not being paid attention to and people talking during my set. And now I'm complaining because everybody loves everybody too much."