Rufus Wainwright Shares 'Heading For Home (Feat. John Legend)'

2x GRAMMY® Award-nominated singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright has shared his jubilant new single, "Heading For Home (Feat. John Legend)," available now at all DSPs and streaming services. "Heading For Home" heralds Wainwright's eagerly awaited new album, Folkocracy, an star-studded collection of folk music reinventions arriving Friday, June 2 via BMG in a range of formats including digital download, CD, and vinyl. Pre-orders are available now HERE.

"John Legend has arguably one of the most beautiful voices in the world and listening to him singing is a pure joy," says Rufus Wainwright. "I am now one of the few who can say that it can get even better, and that is when you sing with him. Thank you for coming on this folk journey with me and singing Peggy Seeger's 'Heading For Home' with me. It was an effortless flight, an elegant glide, a fulfilling soar, not just a mere walk home."

-Rufus Wainwright

"I've been a fan of Rufus for quite some time, and it was a true joy to sing with him on this beautiful song."

-John Legend

Folkocracy sees Wainwright joined by a spectacular lineup of friends, family members, and other special guest artists including 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.

Produced by longtime collaborator Mitchell Froom (Paul McCartney, Crowded House), the album includes the haunting first single, "Down in the Willow Garden (Feat. Brandi Carlile)," available now at all DSPs and streaming services. Hailed by The Boot as "goosebump-worthy...Wainwright and Carlile seamlessly blend their voices while telling the haunting story of a brutal murder from the perpetrator's perspective," the timeless track is accompanied by an official music video streaming now at YouTube HERE.

Wainwright - joined by a six-piece band and special guests including Chaka Khan, Van Dyke Parks, Susanna Hoffs, Lucy Wainwright Roche, and Richard Parks - will celebrate Folkocracy with a one-night-only Release Day concert event set for Los Angeles, CA's Walt Disney Concert Hall on Friday, June 2.

In addition, a wide range of international live dates is set through the summer, with diverse dates around the globe through late July. Highlights include headline shows, top-billed festival appearances at Winnipeg, MB's Winnipeg Folk Festival (July 7), Mariposa, ON's Mariposa Folk Festival (July 9), and Cambridge, UK's Cambridge Folk Festival (July 29), as well as "Wainwright Does Weill," a once-in-a-lifetime five-night residency at New York's legendary Café Carlyle set for May 16-20 that will see Wainwright performing the songs of composer Kurt Weill accompanied by his longtime pianist Jacob Mann.

In addition, this August will see Wainwright embark on a worldwide Folkocracy Tour while also marking both the 25th anniversary of his landmark debut album, 1998's Rufus Wainwright, and the 20th anniversary of 2003's award-winning Want One (and its 2004 companion, Want Two) with a series of orchestral shows featuring lush symphonic arrangements by Sally Herbert (Woodkid, Florence + the Machine) and Max Moston (Antony and the Johnsons). A full slate of North American, EU, and UK dates will be announced soon. For complete details and remaining ticket availability, please visit here.

Folkocracy - which follows Wainwright's most recent studio album, 2020's GRAMMY® and Juno Award-nominated Unfollow The Rules - sees the critically acclaimed artist celebrating his upcoming 50th birthday by revisiting his roots, of childhood summers spent at folk festivals and watching his famous family on stage.

Wainwright is joined on his journey into the past by an all-star cast of special guests that includes Brandi Carlile, John Legend, Chaka Khan, Nicole Scherzinger, Van Dyke Parks, and Madison Cunningham, to name only a few. The 15 songs featured on Folkocracy include folk standards from around the world along with a unique reframing of Franz Schubert's "Nacht und Träume" as well as a spellbinding rerecording of his own "Going To A Town," featuring his longtime friend ANOHNI.

Highlights include the sensual "High On A Rocky Ledge (Feat. David Byrne)," a gorgeous, expertly harmonized take on The Mamas & The Papas' "Twelve-Thirty (Young Girls Are Coming To The Canyon)" featuring Sheryl Crow, Susannah Hoffs, and Chris Stills, and the album-closing "Wild Mountain Thyme," a song Wainwright grew up singing with his sisters, Martha Wainwright and Lucy Wainwright Roche, both of whom join him on the new rendition along with aunt Anna McGarrigle, cousin Lily Lanken, and close family friend Chaim Tannenbaum, the latter playing Rufus's late mother Kate McGarrigle's iconic banjo.

"The older I get, the more I appreciate how valuable my folk knowledge is, to have had it ingrained in me as a child," Wainwright says. "I'm from a bona fide folkocracy who mixed extensively with other folkocracies such as the Seegers and the Thompsons. I spun off into opera and pop. Now I'm back where it all began."

RUFUS WAINWRIGHT TOUR DATES 2023

APRIL

14 - A Coruña, Spain - Teatro Colón * (SOLD OUT)

15 - Elx, Spain - Gran Teatre D'Elx *

17 - Sevilla, Spain - Teatro De La Maestranza *

19 - València, Spain - Palau De Les Arts Reina Sofia *

21 - Murcia, Spain - Teatro Circo Murcia *

22 - Girona, Spain - Auditori Palau De Congressos De Girona *

29 - Cheltenham, UK - Cheltenham Jazz Festival 2023 *

MAY

3 - Boston, MA - City Winery Boston (Early Show) *

3 - Boston, MA - City Winery Boston (Late Show) *

4 - Northampton, MA - BOMBYX Center For Arts & Equity *

6 - Provincetown, MA - Provincetown Town Hall *

16 - New York, NY - Café Carlyle ^

17 - New York, NY - Café Carlyle ^

18 - New York, NY - Café Carlyle ^

19 - New York, NY - Café Carlyle ^

20 - New York, NY - Café Carlyle ^

JUNE

2 - Los Angeles, CA - Walt Disney Concert Hall **

3 - Monterey, CA - Golden State Theatre **

4 - Napa, CA - Blue Note Napa Summer Sessions **

21 - Cleveland Heights, OH - Cain Park **

23 - Philadelphia, PA - Kimmel Cultural Campus **

24 - Vienna, VA - Out & About Festival **

25 - Red Bank, NJ - Hackensack Meridian Health Theatre at the Count Basie Center **

27 - Ridgefield, CT - Ridgefield Playhouse **

29 - Morristown, NJ - Mayo Performing Arts Center **

30 - Portsmouth, NH - The Music Hall **

JULY

1 - Bar Harbor, ME - Criterion Theater **

7 - Winnipeg, MB - Winnipeg Folk Festival **

9 - Mariposa, ON - Mariposa Folk Festival **

16 - Beacon, NY - Towne Crier Café **

25 - Madrid, Spain - Teatro Real **

27 - Ciutadella de Menorca, Spain - Festival Pedra Viva **

29 - Cambridge, UK - Cambridge Folk Festival 2023 **

AUGUST

11 - Chicago, IL - Ravinia Festival ***

* Solo Performance

† "Celebrating Stanford Live's Next Decade" w/Chamber Orchestra

^ "Wainwright Does Weill"

** Folkocracy Tour w/Six-Piece Backing Band

*** Want Symphonic Series

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