Acclaimed singer-songwriter Martha Wainwright is one of the headline acts at this month’s Shrewsbury Folk Festival. The event comes at the end of a tour to celebrate the 20th anniversary of her debut album. But as much as she’s enjoyed looking back, she’s ready to start making new music too, as she explains to What’s On...

As the daughter of Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle, and sister of Rufus Wainwright, American-Canadian singer-songwriter Martha Wainwright (she was born in New York, but raised in Montréal) is arguably the epitome of folk-rock royalty. But as much as family connections brought opportunities to perform and learn about the music industry, they also cast quite the shadow when it came to being seen as an artist in her own right.

“I had so much opportunity through nepotism to play and get seen, that’s for certain,” she says. “And I was associated with these great songwriters - Kate and Anna [McGarrigle, her mum’s sister], Loudon and Rufus - but I had to prove myself somewhat, even to myself.”

As a result, her self-titled first album, which is 20 years old this year, went through a lengthy period of gestation.

“It was a real process to get the record out, partly because the market at that time already had a couple of Wainwrights! And obviously Rufus’ first and second albums were so powerful and so strong, and I was a part of those records in that I was a backup singer. I sang on those records and toured a lot with him. It’s not that there wasn’t enough room for both of us, but I needed to pave my own way.”

That meant “almost 10 years of playing, doing gigs, making mistakes, writing songs”, releasing DIY cassettes and EPs, and fighting back against record executives who either wanted her to sound more folk, like her mother, or more pop, like Cyndi Lauper.

It was only after a chance meeting with producer Brad Albetta, who went on to become her husband, that the record finally got made. It was recorded over a period of 18 months when his studio was available. 

“We just kept on working and getting these great mixes out, and I’d send them to labels, but only after it was mixed and sequenced. It was a huge relief once it came out.”

Soon after that happened, she flew to the UK to appear on Later… With Jools Holland, earning instant critical acclaim as well as an audience she never really expected.

“For me, that was the real moment. It’s not like I got off the plane and people were screaming, but it was almost like that, in that I got to London and did a show for press - back then the press was so important - and pretty quickly I was getting a lot of attention.”

One of the tunes that prompted the most attention was Bloody Mother F**king Asshole (she kindly refers to it as “BMFA”), which was initially a tirade against her estranged father (among others, she says). It has since gone on to have a life of its own, to her great satisfaction.

“In some ways that song, from the first moment I sang it, was my most useful song but also least personal in a way. It seems bigger than me just writing a song about my feelings in that moment.”
It also earns the loudest singalongs - even at arguably demure folk concerts - and appeals to a greater number of people, she says.

“The audience, with their eyes closed, are shouting it back; usually the younger people [but] it seems to affect different people, different ages, and different walks of life too. Sometimes I see people in my audience who maybe wouldn’t listen to a classic singer-songwriter like myself, and maybe that song has brought them to my music because it has a broader appeal.”

Everyone likes a bit of anger and attitude from time to time, of course.

“Yeah, and I think there’s a swearing part that’s fun - but beyond that, the rest of the lyrics are interesting and it’s quite poetic… I don’t think it’s a feminist song and men can enjoy it too, but it has a powerful message that in some way people can click into. So it seems larger than myself, which is a great thing, as that’s sort of what you’re hoping for. As a songwriter you write these personal songs - or I write very autobiographical songs - and you hope they’ll go beyond that and have a life of their own.”

That debut album (“sort of the quintessential one”) has certainly lasted the course too. It was very much a case of planting a flagpole for how she saw herself as an artist.

“The first record set the tone or the stage for me as a songwriter in many ways, which I was happy for, because it was a record that was a long time in the making and has a variety of themes and styles that I’ve been able to build on over the last 20 years.”

Speaking of which, has performing songs that are 20, and in some cases 30, years old made her think about how they, and her life, have changed in the interim? And has the process of revisiting them provided any inspiration for new material?

“I think it’s done both. It’s thrown me back there, in that I had to try to remember how to play some of the songs and then practise them. So I was thrown back into that time, and primarily I was amazed that not much has changed and that I’m the same person.

“Now the bulk of the touring is over, I have this incredible want, and need, to write songs. I just started again, and I feel in some ways that they are informed by the first record and a return to the essence of who I was, and who I am, as a songwriter. So that’s been very comforting, and exciting. A lot of the shows have also been sold out, so that has motivated me and put some wind in my sail too.”

She believes playing festivals like Shrewsbury (“thanks for telling me how to pronounce it!”) can be a source of inspiration too, as they provide an opportunity - and challenge - to connect with people previously unfamiliar with her music.

“Playing for audiences where some of them don’t know the material is... I don’t wanna say more satisfying, but it can be. If you can win them over by the end of the set, then you’ve really accomplished something.

“For songwriters like me, and this is a terrible thing to say, a lot of my audience was also my parents’ audience, and a lot of those people are dying. I’m glad to see that people’s children are now invited to the show, and I see more people at the shows who are my age, hovering around 50. I think that’s because their kids are old enough that they can keep them at home!”

And given that she’s scheduled to play on two different days at Shrewsbury, will she be out there among them, checking out other acts and enjoying the festival vibe?

“Oh yeah, that’s a huge thing for me -  especially when I was younger but even now - because that’s where I discover a lot of music, or have in the past. I’m not always inspired to check out Spotify and new artists because I’m busy or on the road myself. I find that I’ve found most of my exciting discoveries by sharing the stage or seeing the person who’s on right before me or right after, because at a festival I have the opportunity to walk by. I’ve always enjoyed that. When you’re in a festival, you’re more open to the spirit of that kind of discovery.”

Martha Wainwright plays Shrewsbury Folk Festival on Sunday 24 & Monday 25 August.

By Steve Adams