Many of us grew up in the irritatingly long shadow of an older sibling who was continually at the center of some spectacular achievement to live up to. Imagine, then, how hopeless it must have been to grow up in the shadow of not only a gifted sibling, but celebrated parents as well. Welcome to Martha Wainwright’s world. The daughter of folk legends Kate McGarrigle and Loudon Wainwright and younger sister of Rufus has three sets of mighty big shoes to fill, and a somewhat disabused notion of entitlement.
“I figured once I got started, someone would scoop me up and give me a million dollars,” laughs Wainwright. “But it took me a long time to get signed.”
Those who’ve followed her career as a sidekick/backup singer for Rufus no doubt expected Martha to have made her own splash by now, or, at the very least, to have released an album. In fact, some might have thought that Wainwright’s first appearance at SXSW 2000 would have garnered her a spot on some lucky label’s roster, but those folks would have thought wrong.
“I don’t think the music industry was ready for me,” explains Wainwright. “I’m not a creation of anyone’s marketing plan, and going [to SXSW] unsigned was not as useful for me as it is for some people.”
It took nearly five years to get any label’s interest (“I’ve been pregnant for five years!”), but Wainwright was finally signed to roots-music label Rounder Records last year. Her eponymous debut is set for release this spring, and it’s a graceful, passionate piece of work peppered with some folk, some rock, and even a glint of brother Rufus’ predilection for baroque musical gestures. Finally it seems that Wainwright is poised to cast her own shadow alongside those of her family.
“I want to get out into the ether and let people know that I’m willing to work really hard,” she states. “Are they?”
This article appears in March 18 • 2005.