The literal legend Loudon Wainwright III will release ‘Years in the Making’, a two-disc compendium of 45 years of Loudon’s offbeaten, rare and unissued tracks on September 14th via StorySound Records. Described a true “audio-biography” it includes orphaned album cuts, live recordings, radio appearances, home demos, and more, that come together to offer a new perspective on Loudon’s public and private selves. Notable figures from Loudon’s life pop up throughout: Kate McGarrigle, Suzzy Roche, Bill Frisell, Van Dyke Parks, Chaim Tannenbaum, David Mansfield, Steve Goodman, George Gerdes, and the Wainwright children Rufus, Martha, Lucy and Lexie. None of these recordings have been previously released on vinyl or CD; in fact Wainwright hasn’t even publicly performed some of them.
Co-produced by Loudon and Dick Connette, the two-disc, 42-track set is divided into seven chapters within a 60-page hardbound book. The package includes dozens of scans of documents, introspective musings and other artifacts from what Loudon calls his “swinging life,” in addition to paintings and drawings by friends and fans. The artwork was created by New Yorker cartoonist Ed Steed (who won a Grammy last year for the packaging of Father John Misty’s ‘Pure Comedy’).
Says Loudon, “’Years in the Making’ covers a lot of ground, about half a century’s worth. Sonically it’s all over the place and, at times, noticeably low-fi, but my co-producer Dick Connette and I decided that didn’t matter as much as offering up something that was spirited and representational…The sources at our disposal came in various formats – hard drives, cassettes, reel-to-reel tapes, B-sides, bootlegs, and reference CDs. There was too much to choose from, and plenty wasn’t even listened to but we did our level best to pick and assemble what we think amounts to a diverting 2 hours of listening.”
DISC ONE
FOLK
Rosin the Bow
You Ain’t Going Nowhere
Easy St. Louis Tweedle-Dee
Everybody I know
Philadelphia Lawyer
Roll in My Sweet Baby’s Arms
Love Gifts
Stewball
Floods of Tears
ROCKING OUT
Station Break
Have You Ever Been To Pittsburgh
2 Song Set
Cardboard Boxes
Smokey Joe’s Café
You Hurt Me Mantra
Rambunctious
I Wanna Be On MTV
KIDS
Birthday Poem / Happy Birthday / Animal Song
Your Mother & I
Button Nose
The Ballad of Famous & Harper
Teenager’s Lament
Things
DISC TWO
LOVE HURTS
Unrequited to the Nth Degree
Ulcer
You Can’t Fail Me Now
No
Rowena
Cheatin’
MISCELLANY
IDTTYWLM
Down Where the Drunkards Roll
POW
Meet the Wainwrights
HOLLYWOOD
Liza Minnelli Interview
Hollywood Hopeful
Valley Morning
Trailer
THE BIG PICTURE
God’s Got a Shit List
Thank You, Mr. Hubble
It Ain’t Gaza
Out of This World
Birthday Boy
