He is brother of the Folk Pop singer Martha Wainwright.
Wainwright is also known for his tenor singing voice, some of his songs can be described as popera (pop opera) or baroque pop due to the big influences of operas and symphony orchestras.
With 6 studio albums - Rufus Wainwright (1998), Poses (2001), Want One (2003), Want Two (2004), Release The Stars (2007) and All Nights Are Nights: Songs For Lulu (2010), besides two live albums, two compilations and 3 EPs.
Going To A Town is the first single taken from Release The Stars.
About the song, Wainwright once revealed:
"The meaning is very plain, mainly that I'm having problems with the United States at the moment, as we all are. We all love America, I think everybody does in a certain way. But we have to admit that there's just been too many mistakes made in the recent past over too many issues, and we've just got to deal with that fact."
Once he admitted Going To A Town "is more about birth than destruction".
The video was directed by Sophia Muller and features Wainwright on the role of who's thought to be based on D.H. Lawrence, and three women that according to the singer represent Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, the other Frida Kahlo and the other one is more abstract more like "fairy tale-like" from Mozart's The Magic Flute. Later he said those three women represent The Three Graces, with the burning roses symbolizing "purification by fire" representing the United States "beautiful, but thorny".
"I may just never see you again or might as well
You took advantage of a world that loved you well
I'm going to a town that has already been burned down
I'm so tired of you America"
