LOUDON WAINWRIGHT III TO RELEASE
HIGH WIDE & HANDSOME: THE CHARLIE POOLE PROJECT OUT AUGUST 25
SPECIAL GUESTS INCLUDE RUFUS AND MARTHA WAINWRIGHT, THE ROCHES, CHRIS
THILE, AND OTHERS
 Loudon Wainwright III |
Loudon Wainwright III has created one of the most ambitious projects of
his career with High Wide & Handsome: The Charlie Poole Project, out
August 25 on 2nd Story Sound Records, examining the life, themes, and
repertoire of the country music pioneer.
Immortalized in the 2005 box set, You Ain't Talkin' To Me: Charlie
Poole and the Roots of Country Music, Poole was a bootlegger, banjo
picker, amateur baseball player, drinker, rambler, gambler, and textile
mill worker -- and one of the most popular musicians of his day,
recording over 110 tracks for Columbia, Paramount, and Brunswick. Born
in 1892 in North Carolina, he lived fast and died at the age of 39.
He was not, however, a writer, drawing instead on popular and
traditional repertoire for his recordings and performances. According
to All Music Guide, "Poole's talent for making it all seem like
personal autobiography makes him very much a modernist, only a short
leap away from an artist like Hank Williams." This same spirit of
reinterpreting popular and trdational repertoire to reflect the present
as well as the past may be seen as the heart of Wainwright's Poole
project.
Guests on the album include Rufus and Martha Wainwright, Nickel Creek
mandolin player Chris Thile, and many others.
Loudon Wainwright has charted a vibrant forty-year career. He wrote
"Dead Skunk" in 15 minutes in 1972 and it reached #12 in the Billboard
chart. He has recorded over twenty-five albums and has had two GRAMMY
nominations. His songs have been covered by Johnny Cash, Earl Scruggs,
Kate & Anna McGarrigle, and countless others. Loudon is also an
accomplished actor and in the past few years has appeared in films
directed by Martin Scorcese, Tim Burton, Cameron Crowe, and Judd
Apatow, all while remaining one of the most original and impressive
songwriters and live performers of our generation. MOJO Magazine calls
Wainwright "lyrically compelling and emotionally overpowering."
Loudon Wainwright tour dates available here.
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