Loudon Wainwright III, Janiva Magness, and more on Mountain Stage

We are excited to record this episode at Kodak Hall at the Eastman Theatre in Rochester, NY.

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Since 1983, Mountain Stage has been the home of live music on public radio. Eclectic and authentic, the show’s varied guests have included iconic artists from John Prine and Townes Van Zandt to Wilco, Norah Jones, and Tyler Childers. Under the leadership of Grammy Award-winning country and bluegrass star Kathy Mattea since 2021, Mountain Stage continues to bring surefire energy and music discovery to parts known and unknown.

Born in Chapel Hill, N.C. in 1946, Loudon Wainwright III came to fame when “Dead Skunk” became a Top 20 hit in 1972. He had studied acting at Carnegie-Mellon University, but dropped out to partake in the Summer of Love in San Francisco, and wrote his first song in 1968 (“Edgar,” about a lobsterman in Rhode Island).

He was soon signed to Atlantic Records by Nesuhi Ertegun, and after that was lured by Clive Davis to Columbia Records, which released “Dead Skunk.” His songs have since been recorded by Bonnie Raitt, Johnny Cash, Earl Scruggs, Kate & Anna McGarrigle, his son Rufus Wainwright, and Mose Allison, among others. Wainwright has recorded 27 albums, including his 2009 Grammy Award-winning High Wide & Handsome.

In 2022 Loudon released Lifetime Achievement, an album of 15 original songs, that established his singular talent as our foremost six-string tragicomedian, not only undiminished, but hitting new heights. The orchestration varies from solo performance, to trio work with his longstanding musical cohorts, Chaim Tannenbaum and David Mansfield, to Nashville and Memphis-style little big bands, to a full-blown string arrangement by Rob Moose. Loudon puts his latest achievement in the context of a lifetime of music making this way: “When I made my first record for Atlantic in 1969, I wanted to make not only a recording, but a document that captures a moment. Now, fifty years later, I guess I still want to make a testament of songs, and I like to think they might last a while.”

In October of 2020 Loudon unveiled the album I’d Rather Lead a Band, in which he is featured as a vocalist with Vince Giordano and The Nighthawks. The 14-song collection of classic songs from the 1920s and ‘30s was widely acclaimed. During the pandemic, Wainwright has produced a number of virtual shows, including The Special Relationship (presented by the Royal Albert Hall ) and The Great Unknown, a musical tribute to his friend, the late George Gerdes. Also featured in that show were Richard Thompson, Suzanne Vega, Steve Forbert, and the members of Spinal Tap.

In Fall 2018, Loudon released Years in the Making a 42-song treasury of rare and unreleased Loudoniana. This 2-disc, 60-page hardbound audio-biography of his 40-year career includes orphaned album cuts, lovingly-made lo-fi home recordings, radio appearances, demos, live performances and beyond. It features appearances by Kate McGarrigle, Suzzy Roche, Bill Frisell, Van Dyke Parks, Chaim Tannenbaum, David Mansfield, and the Wainwright children Rufus, Martha, Lucy, and Lexie.

In 2017, Wainwright published his memoir, Liner Notes (Blue Rider Press), which led to appearances on Fresh Air with Terry Gross and WTF with Marc Maron. The New York Times said the book “makes your heart wobble on its axis.”

Wainwright also created a one-man theatrical show, Surviving Twin, which combines his songs and the writings of his late father. Initially developed as part of University of North Carolina's Playmakers series, it focuses on fatherhood—both being a father and having one—and also explores the issues of birth, self-identity, loss, mortality, fashion, and of course, pet ownership. Surviving Twin has been performed in limited theater engagements and is available as a Netflix special, produced by Judd Apatow and directed by Christopher Guest.

Additionally, Wainwright has co-written with songwriter/producer Joe Henry on the music for Judd Apatow’s hit movie Knocked Up, written music for the British theatrical adaptation of the Carl Hiaasen novel Lucky You, and composed topical songs for NPR’s Morning Edition and All Things Considered and ABC’s Nightline. An accomplished actor, he has appeared in films directed by Martin Scorsese, Hal Ashby, Christopher Guest, Tim Burton, Cameron Crowe, and Judd Apatow. Wainwright has also starred on TV in M.A.S.H. and Undeclared, and on Broadway in Pump Boys and Dinettes. More recently, he appeared in the film Pleased to Meet You (with fellow music legends John Doe, Aimee Mann, and Joe Henry), and the television series, Mosaic, directed by Steven Soderbergh.

With Back for Me, seven-times Blues Music Awards winner Janiva Magness continues to renew and redefine her widely celebrated relationship with the music on a powerfully engaging, emotionally rich collection. Produced by her longtime guitarist and collaborator Dave Darling, the album is a treasure chest of lesser-known gems by well-known artists (Bill Withers, Ray LaMontagne, Allen Toussaint, Doyle Bramhall II, Tracy Nelson) and deep-dive discoveries brought through Magness’ voracious, wide-ranging searches for songs that connect with the deep feelings embodied in her voice and music, cherished by her fans.

It’s the 17th album for Magness, who in addition to those awards (including being named B.B. King Artist of the Year in 2009), earned a Grammy Awards Contemporary Blues nomination for her 2016 album Love Wins Again. It follows the 2019 publication of her memoir, Weeds Like Us, a vividly portrayed account of both the traumas of her youth (her parents’ suicides and her often-nightmarish experiences in the foster care system) and the hard-earned triumphs that have fueled her growth as an artist and in life, inspiration also found in her 2022 album Hard to K*ll.

Darling anchors the album’s core band, also featuring drummer W.F. Quinn Smith and bassist Ian Walker, with keyboardists Sasha Smith and Phil Parlapiano, guitarists John Schroeder and Robert “Chalo” Ortiz, Nick Maybury and blues harp player TJ Norton also appearing on various songs. And ace guitarists Joe Bonamassa, Sue Foley and Jesse Dayton put their stamps on their respective special guest appearances. It’s a powerhouse set moving from the Chicago-via-Texas churn of “Masterpiece” (written by Darling and featuring searing guitar from Bonamassa) to the aching gospel-soul-funk of Bill Withers’ “The Same Love That Made Me Laugh” to the haunting resignation of Bramhall’s “November” and Nelson’s torch ballad “Down So Low” to the sly release of “Hittin’ on Nothin’” (written by Toussaint and originally sung by Irma Thomas, here with Dayton’s blasting guitar).

There’s heartache and heartbreak, but at the same time self-awareness and accountability and the strength and power that comes from that. In other words, it’s the blues. While in recent years she’s stepped forward more as a songwriter, this album echoes her early career strengths as an interpreter of others’ songs. But for Magness, the album is a rejoicing in how far she’s come in her life, with the knowledge of how she got here. On Back for Me, Magness goes back to her, back to some things deep in her, reconnecting and renewing things that have driven and empowered her through such a distinguished career.

“I’m happier in my life in many ways than I’ve ever been,” she says. “I’m more peaceful in my life than I’ve ever been, which I think will always be a surprise for me. But it doesn’t mean the experience of heartbreak in these songs goes away. It doesn’t go away. It just lives in a different spot in me.”

Host or Publisher Mountain Stage