Martha Wainwright (CA)

About

Martha Wainwright has a knack for making songs feel like confessions you weren't supposed to hear. Her breakout track "Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole", a raw and unflinching response to her father Loudon Wainwright III's habit of writing about his family instead of caring for them, landed on The Sunday Times songs of the year list and Rolling Stone called it "a blistering prelude to her debut album." It later turned up at the end of episodes in both Orange is the New Black and Big Little Lies, which tells you something about how much emotional punch it carries. Over seven studio albums, she has pulled in collaborators ranging from Pete Townshend and Donald Fagen to Snow Patrol frontman Gary Lightbody, who wrote "Set the Fire to the Third Bar" specifically with her voice in mind. Her second album landed a Polaris Music Prize long list nomination, and her Édith Piaf tribute record left audiences "stunned" by her range. Beyond music, she has appeared in Martin Scorsese's The Aviator and the HBO series Olive Kitteridge, and she runs Ursa, a café, concert hall, bar, and recording space in Montreal.