Folk royalty opens up about finding her own way as an artist
WHAT’S ON EDITOR GORDON BARR CHATS TO MARTHA WAINWRIGHT AHEAD OF HER MOUTH OF THE TYNE GIG AT PLAYHOUSE WHITLEY BAY
WHILE the biggest gigs for the Mouth of the Tyne Festival take place at Tynemouth Priory, the event also sees a host of other shows and activities taking place at the coast.
One of the most eagerly anticipated must surely be Martha Wainwright, at the Playhouse Whitley Bay on Saturday, July 8.
New York City born but Canada based Martha is the daughter of folk legends Kate McGarrigle and Loudon Wainwright III and, of course, the sister of Rufus Wainwright.
She is on a full-scale European tour, but is looking forward to her return to Tyneside as part of Mouth of the Tyne. “I’ve been playing in the North East of England for years, in different rooms and clubs around Newcastle,” she tells me from her home in Montreal.
“We’re going to be a four-piece band, doing a lot of the new record but also stuff from my other records. I do stuff solo as well. It is a retrospective almost of Martha Wainwright.”
Mouth of the Tyne also sees Tynemouth Priory gigs featuring Elbow and The Cornshed Sisters on July 6, Laura Marling, with King Creosote and Karen Elson on July 7, Tom Odell with Cattle and Cane on July 8 and Billy Ocean with Roachford, Jake Houlsby, Transfigure and Beccy Owen on July 9.
But there should be a near-packed house on Saturday, indoors at the Playhouse, to see Martha. So what can fans expect?
“There might be some older songs they recognise and newer songs they are hearing for the first time. I think that is a nice way to experience the music together when you are spending 90 minutes together,” she tells me.
“That it is not all one thing and not every song they recognise. I like the variety of being able to do that.”
I ask Martha if writing and performing music was always on the cards for her, given her family’s musical heritage.
“I think I could have done other things and in many ways it took me a long time to accept and to feel comfortable fully as an artist and musician,” she reveals.
“It took me a long time to hone my own skills and drum up the confidence and the material to get to the point now where I have crafted it over the years. “But it wasn’t an easy task for me. The roads weren’t clear. The wind was not always at my back. It was a struggle, which I think you can hear in my songs. “And I think that has been something people have identified with, who themselves have been frustrated or found the path of life sometimes difficult. “That’s where my music has always sat. Some people like to hear about that and want to know about that and for others it’s not what they are seeking out in music. “But I think that is what my voice was meant to be. It’s not about me writing a song and feeling better and simply closing up the song and moving on because it’s about me going out on the road and playing it over and over again. “Initially it is personal and of course I want it to be something people recognise themselves in. Once I start performing these songs, they are not really about me anymore. “They are about whatever the listener needs them to be about or about the listener and what they can garner from what I’m saying.”
That it is not all one thing and not every song they recognise. I like the variety of being able to do that. Martha Wainwright