At 77, singer-songwriter and sometimes-actor Loudon Wainwright III is still hitting the road, including for a pair of upcoming dates at Eddies’s Attic in Decatur.
Since his 1970 debut album, simply titled “Loudon Wainwright III,” he’s released 26 studio albums, plus several live albums and compilations.
Many only may know him for that long-ago hit single “Dead Skunk” ditty “stinkin’ to high heaven.” Others delight in his many misanthropic and tragicomic tunes.
But Wainwright’s newest album, “Lifetime Achievement” (Proper Records), offers a surprising bit of optimism that some listeners attribute to his relationship with New Yorker editor Susan Morrison.
Photo by Shervin Lainez
Photo by Shervin Lainez
Taking a call early one recent morning while driving to a gig in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Wainwright seems pleased to delve into his family history, which includes his links to Georgia.
“My mother was born and raised in Tifton, close to the Florida border,” he said. “That’s my Georgia connection. And as a young woman she did live in Atlanta for a while.
“When I was 14, I remember we drove down to Tifton for Thanksgiving and I met all these Georgia folks. But the thing I remember the most is I couldn’t understand what the young cousins who were around my age were saying. The accent was so strong to my ears.”
Wainwright’s mother, Martha Harriet Taylor, and his father, Life magazine writer and editor Loudon Snowden Wainwright Jr., met when they were both in the Marine Corps.
“My father and my mother were at different ends of the social scale,” Wainwright said. “My dad grew up in the rich part of Long Island and my mom’s father was an itinerant tobacco farmer. So opposites attract, they were attracted, and I was born in 1946 in Chapel Hill [North Carolina].”
Last Christmas, Wainwright joined his children and the extended Wainwright-Roche family at Town Hall in New York City for the annual Not So Silent Night show.
“We had a lot of us there, with [son and daughter] Rufus and Martha and my daughter Lucy, and her mom Suzzy Roche, and Emmylou Harris and Norah Jones,” he said. “Rufus and Martha have been doing that Christmas show for years. I said, ‘None of you would be here if it weren’t for me.’ That was my joke that night. I always have one joke for any night.”
Another recent witticism is a Linda Thompson song, “Those Damn Roches,” from Thompson’s new album “Proxy Music,” with her son Teddy Thompson, on vocals, and tip of the hat to “Those Damn Wainwrights.”
Richard and Linda Thompson ”were big fans of the Roches when they came out,” Wainwright said. “It’s great to have the Wainwright’s reference in it. I guess it’s about jealousy and love of music at the same time. I think it’s a wonderful song. And Teddy Thompson sings the [crap] out of it. I love his singing.”
What many people don’t know, or have forgotten, is Wainwright’s skill as an actor, with television parts on “M*A*S*H,” “Grounded for Life,” and “Ally McBeal,” plus roles in films directed by his friend Judd Apatow.
“I haven’t had an acting job in a while, so I wish somebody would call me about that,” Wainwright said. “I don’t seek acting jobs. Judd Apatow has been very nice to me over the years. He’s given me a couple of acting jobs. That was fun to work on his stuff and be in some major motion pictures.”
Suddenly, that memory sparks another memory of another time working in Atlanta.
“I was in Atlanta years ago in the ‘80s,” Wainwright recalls. “I spent 10 weeks sealed up in the Atlanta Hilton Hotel making a bad Hal Ashby movie called ‘The Slugger’s Wife.’ My friend Michael O’Keefe got me that job. So I went to Mary Mac’s a lot. And I think I played at the Moonshadow [concert venue], too.”
When it comes to current places to hang out around Atlanta, Wainwright declares, “I love Decatur. What can I tell you? It’s a nice little enclave there.”
As far as what to expect from his upcoming shows, expect old and new songs along with a bit of a twist.
“I’m also doing this thing in my show where I put the guitar down and do some spoken things that I have written and then connect them with some songs,” he said. “That’s an aspect of my show that I like a lot now. And I’ve got a couple of new songs that haven’t been recorded. I have a song called ‘Posthumously Yours,’ which once again explores the very fertile territory of death and decay.”
Wainwright’s father died at 63, so taking stock of his own longevity is something Wainwright III sometimes ponders.
“Now I’m 77, so it’s a whole new ballgame,” he said. “I just take it day by day. This getting real old is really interesting, and dreadfully boring at times. I don’t want to complain about my health. I’m happy to be out and about and doing shows and feeling pretty good.
“I love to play and perform,” he added. “I kind of hate getting there more and more. It’s still a fun job. I more or less got to do what I wanted to do, which was to be a performer, so I’m lucky.”
CONCERT PREVIEW
Loudon Wainwright III
6 p.m. June 29 and 30 (doors open at 5 p.m.). $47.50. Eddie’s Attic, 515-B North McDonough St., Decatur. eddiesattic.com
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