Watch Rufus Wainwright & Madison Cunningham Go ‘Across The Universe’ For ‘eTown’ Collaboration

This week’s episode of nationally syndicated radio program eTown features musical guests Rufus Wainwright and Madison Cunningham. The celebrated singer-songwriters paired up with hosts Nick Forster and Helen Forster as well as eTown house band the eTones to close the installment with an enchanting cover of The Beatles‘ “Across The Universe.”

The show made a trip across Boulder from its usual home of eTown Hall to Macky Auditorium on the campus of the University of Colorado to tape the episode — the first of a two-parter featuring Wainwright and Cunningham — on December 14, 2023. Rufus Wainwright released his latest album, Folkocracy, last June. Madison Cunningham issued the Grammy-winning LP, Revealer, in September of 2022.

Wainwright’s appearance on eTown marked his debut live visit to the program. Rufus kicked off this week’s episode by playing “Dinner At Eight,” a song written about his father, Loudon Wainwright III. He then spoke about the guest-filled and Grammy-nominated Folkocracy before performing Peggy Seeger’s “Heading For Home,” one of the covers he recorded for the LP. The singer-songwriter also treated fans to a version of the Neil Young song “Harvest” accompanied by Nick and Helen Forster.

Madison Cunningham’s portion of the episode began with “All I’ve Ever Known” off Revealer. Cunningham then played “Pin It Down” from here 2019 set, Who Are You Now, and followed by looking to 2021’s Legendary Women for “Broken Harvest.”

As previously noted, the latest installment of eTown ended with an “Across The Universe” collaboration. The Beatles initially released the Lennon-McCartney co-write on the 1969 charity album No One’s Gonna Change Our World featuring various artists. A different version appeared on the Fab Four’s 1970 LP, Let It Be, which was the last album issued by the band.

See Rufus Wainwright, Madison Cunningham, Nick Forster, Helen Forster and the eTones’ performance of “Across The Universe” and stream this week’s eTown episode below: