Wainwright ready for what future brings

The irascible Loudon Wainwright III has been called a lot of names in his day. But today in a telephone interview from his Long Island home, he seems positively genial, surprisingly different from his reputation.

Last year at this time Wainwright won his first Grammy in the Best Traditional Folk Category for his 26th album High Wide and Famous: The Charlie Pool Project, a tribute to the North Carolina troubadour.

Once tagged as “the new Dylan,” Wainwright had twice been nominated for a Grammy. When an interviewer asked how he felt after losing, Wainwright’s reply was blunt. “It was shitty.”

This time around there was a whole different vibe. “It felt great. It was very nice to win the Grammy. It was wonderful,” says Loudon who will perform a solo concert at the Arden Theatre on Wednesday, Jan. 26.

This iconic folksinger has been in the business for more than 40 years. After winning a Grammy, what else is there to accomplish?

“I don’t feel I have to accomplish anything. I have to keep working. I have to put a kid through college. But I happen to like working. I still find pleasure in the job. Writing songs is still a mysterious and exciting process and I enjoy performing as much as when I started in 1968.”

His latest album, 10 Songs for the New Depression, is a release that reflects the stark American economic climate today, one that shows little sign of healing anytime soon.

“I lived through a recession in the 70s where I had to stand in line for gas. Now I have a house in California I can’t sell. But I have plenty of food, a car and a job. I’m fortunate people in Canada still want to see me.”

Politics is not something he’s keen on, even in his tunes. “I vote. I watch the news. I think about stuff. I have opinions and I write topical songs. But my songs are social commentary or novelty songs that elicit laughter.

One of the more personal tunes on 10 Songs is Middle of the Night, written a few years ago. It taps into Wainwright’s psychological depression, “an abundant source that has served me as a songwriter for many years now.”

And then there’s Times is Hard, a song written in 2009 that asks if nihilism can be used as a tool to remedy social ills.

“Existence is no piece of cake. Wait. That doesn’t sound grammatically right,” he laughs. “But I really don’t know where America is going.”

While Wainwright might be unsure of the direction the United States is going, his own future is clear. In the spring he plans to release 40 Odd Years, a retrospective of his musical life.