On NPR Live Fridays From XPN
Rufus Wainwright and Neko Case, Live in Concert
Listen Live Online at Noon ET Friday
NPR.org, August 15, 2007 · Born into music, singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright has been performing his entire life. The son of folk-singing parents Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle, Wainwright wrote and performed his own music throughout his teenage years, touring with his family (including sister Martha Wainwright) while exuding proficiency and individuality. Rufus Wainwright will headline a concert from WXPN and World Café Life in Philadelphia on Friday at noon ET; Neko Case will open the show.
Following a successful stint as a live performer, playing piano and guitar around Montreal, Wainwright found his way to a major-label deal. His self-titled 1998 debut topped many year-end best-of lists, and launched his career as an intelligent and timeless, yet distinctly modern, recording artist. He's since released four more albums, including the companion pieces Want One and Want Two, for which he toured extensively. His newest disc is titled Release the Stars.
Opener Neko Case recorded her first album of country-tinged folk-pop in 1997, then moved from her college home in Vancouver to Seattle to begin serious work as a solo artist. She spent the next decade or so writing and recording her chilling, spacious songs in a number of formats â?? live releases, studio albums and home recordings â?? in the process incorporating multiple contributions from musician friends.
Upon the release of 2006's Fox Confessor Brings the Flood, Case had already established herself with vocal performances on The New Pornographers' albums, as well as stellar live shows, often in duos or with a mixed bag of collaborators. The disc turned out to be her biggest commercial hit yet, and Case was named Female Artist of the Year at the 2006 PLUG Independent Music Awards.
