Loudon Wainwright III – new memoir, Liner Notes, published this month

Liner Notes

With a career spanning more than four decades and still going strong, Loudon Wainwright III has established himself as one of the most enduring singer songwriters of his generation. Few others have revealed their lives so intimately in songs about parents, grandparents, children, siblings, and wives. As Loudon himself says, “It’s taken so long to finally see / My songs about you are all about me” (Taken from ‘So Many Songs’). Loudon’s songs are funny, incisive and heartbreaking.

In his new memoir, Liner Notes On Parents & Children, Exes & Excess, Death & Decay & A Few of My Other Favorite Things published on October 26th on Omnibus Press, Wainwright continues to emphasise the personal. In the book he details the family history his lyrics reference, and the fractured relationships in the Wainwright family throughout generations, including issues of alcoholism, infidelity, competitiveness, closeness, successes and joy. Wainwright also reflects on the experiences that have so clearly influenced his songwriting: boarding school, the music business, swimming, macrobiotics, sex, incarceration, and something he enigmatically calls the “Sir Walter Raleigh Syndrome”.

Very much about being a son – a status that dominates many of Wainwright’s songs – Liner Notes is also about being a parent, a brother, and a grandfather. Song lyrics are included throughout the book and amplify Wainwright’s prose while demonstrating the connections between his songs and real life. Also included are excerpts and selections from his father’s brilliant LIFE magazine columns, reinforcing him as a major essayist of his era.

A funny and insightful meditation on family, inspiration, and art, Liner Notes will captivate not only existing fans, but anyone who appreciates the intersection of music, relationships, life and love.

Artist’s website: http://www.lw3.com/

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