Rufus and Martha Wainwright Want to Help Musicians With Cancer Record Their Songs

Rufus and Martha Wainwright are launching a new initiative in honor of their late mother, Kate McGarrigle, to provide musicians living with aggressive cancer time in professional recording studios.

“Folk Cancer: The Kate McGarrigle Project” was inspired by the way McGarrigle — an accomplished singer-songwriter who worked closely with her sister, Anna — found comfort in music as she navigated the final months of her life before her death from cancer in 2010. The project will give musicians with cancer a similar platform to express themselves creatively during such a difficult time and record a song of their own in a supportive, collaborative environment. 

“Near the end of our mother’s life, music became everything to her,” Rufus said in a statement. “It was clear that the process of writing, performing, singing — and singing with others — was hugely helpful to her.” 

Martha added, “Because of that, my brother and I continue to provide support for musicians and songwriters struggling with cancer.”

The Wainwrights are spearheading “Folk Cancer” in collaboration with the nonprofit Cancer Can Rock. The initiative will launch with a special party on Dec. 3 featuring musical performances and stories from the Wainwrights and Cancer Can Rock founder Jim Ebert. 

“Folk Cancer” is now accepting donations, with funds going directly to funding studio time for participants. New donors will also receive access to a special livestream of the launch event, while those who donate between Dec. 3 and 6 will receive a recording of the party. 

Speaking with Rolling Stone in 2020 for a “My Life in 15 Songs” story, Rufus spoke about the various ways McGarrigle inspired his own songwriting over the years. One song he mentioned was 2012’s “Candles,” which he wrote about searching for a church to light a candle for his mother after her death, and ultimately doing so at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Wainwright said that connected, too, to the moment he came out to his mother, in Paris, when he was 18.

“She ended up going to Notre Dame Cathedral the next day, dressed as a penitent Catholic woman, which she wasn’t,” Rufus recalled. “She suddenly reverted into this old Irish woman, and she claims that she prayed and received a message from God: ‘Rufus is like anybody else. You’ve got to love him.’ All these years later, I light the candle, and I too have this moment, where I pray and ask for some kind of message. Right as I was walking out, it hit me: ‘Rufus, the only way you’re going to get through this is to be grateful.’ Even thinking about it gets me choked up. I took that as a definitive command. To this day, I have to live by it.”