Star-Studded Folk Album on Double LP!
Features John Legend, Sheryl Crow, Brandi Carlile, Andrew Bird, David Byrne & More!
TAS Rated 4.5/5 Music, 4.5/5 Sonics in the October 2023 Issue of The Absolute Sound!
2024 Grammy Award Nominee:
• Best Folk Album: Folkocracy
Rufus Wainwright has announced Folkocracy, a star-studded album of folk music reinventions that sees the 2x GRAMMY® Award-nominated singer-songwriter joined by a spectacular collection of friends, family members, and other special guest artists that includes Brandi Carlile, John Legend, David Byrne, Sheryl Crow, Nicole Scherzinger, Chaka Khan, Andrew Bird, ANOHNI, Susanna Hoffs, Van Dyke Parks, Madison Cunningham, and many more.
While the album does delve into unusually - for Wainwright - rustic traditional fare, selections keep listeners on their toes by not only broadly defining folk, but with a slew of diverse guest singers and arrangements that, at least occasionally, stray into lush orchestral territory.
There's a sentimental quality to Folkocracy, a two-LP set of original, covers, and trad songs produced by Mitchell Froom, but this is not cafe-style or trad-folk music, Wainwright's pairing with Van Dyke Parks has an artsy Roma vibe, and guest artists include Brandi Carlile, John Legend, David Byrne, Sheryl Crow, Susanna Hoffs, Chaka Khan, and Andrew Bird. Wainwright's sublime voice still has a dramatic flair, as heard on the beautiful duet 'Alone' with West Coast folk-rocker Madison Cunningham.
Features
- Double LP
- Gold-Foil Gatefold Cover
- 12-Page Booklet
- Made in Czech Republic
Selections
Side A:
- Alone (feat. Madison Cunningham)
- Heading for Home (feat. John Legend)
- Twelve-Thirty (Young Girls Are Coming to the Canyon) [feat. Susanna Hoffs, Chris Stills, Sheryl Crow]
- Down in the Willow Garden (feat. Brandi Carlile)
- Shenandoah
Side B:
- Nacht und Träume
- Harvest (feat. Andrew Bird, Chris Stills)
- Going to a Town (feat. ANOHNI)
- High on a Rocky Ledge (feat. David Byrne)
- Kaulana Na Pua (feat. Nicole Scherzinger)
Side C:
- Hush Little Baby (feat. Martha Wainwright, Lucy Wainwright Roche)
- Black Gold (feat. Van Dyke Parks)
- Cotton Eyed Joe (feat. Chaka Khan)
Side D:
- Arthur McBride
- Wild Mountain Thyme (feat. Anna McGarrigle, Lily Lanken, Martha Wainwright, Chaim Tannenbaum, Lucy Wainwright Roche)