Rufus Wainwright Announces New 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. Folkocracy arrives Friday, June 2 via BMG in a range of formats.

Produced by longtime collaborator Mitchell Froom, Folkocracy is heralded by today’s release of “Down in the Willow Garden” (Feat. Brandi Carlile) is available now. A timeless murder ballad reimagined for modern times, the haunting track is accompanied by a music (watch above).

“Singing with Rufus feels like watching birds swirl around together instinctively in flight,” says Carlile. It’s anticipated but somehow as natural as can be. His voice is so special to me that I hear it sometimes when he’s not even singing with me. I loved every second of flying around in this music with him.

And, on the song with Carlile, Wainwright says, “Brandi I see a lot, often with Joni Mitchell. I chose us a cheery little number – not! The song is so blatantly brutal and masochistic that I had to sing it with a woman. Sadly, we still live in a violent world. The amazing thing about so many folk songs is that, content wise, they sound very contemporary. Think of the gun crime in the States right now.”