June 2 is a big day for releases by favorite artists of mine whom I haven’t heard from in awhile. In addition to the Ben Folds album I wrote about on Monday, Rufus Wainwright is dropping his latest studio album.

Wainwright has been more prolific than Folds, though three of his releases over the past decade were the sort of side projects I don’t get very excited about (an opera, a collection of Shakespearean sonnets set to music, and his second recreation of a Judy Garland live performance). I never got into the 2020 pop album Unfollow the Rules, though, which should have been right up my alley. I owe that one another listen.

Wainwright’s latest release is closer in spirit to those side projects than the albums of his I love best, but it does have me intrigued. Folkocracy finds Rufus singing folk classics he grew up with, often partnered with artists he admires. He has described it as a birthday present to himself as he turns 50.

His collaborators include David Byrne, Susanna Hoffs, Sheryl Crow, Chaka Kahn, Nicole Scherzinger, John Legend, and Brandi Carlile (in today’s SOTD, the first single, a lovely — if dark — performance by two of my favorites). He is also joined by his sisters, an aunt and a cousin, and in spirit by his late mother Kate McGarrigle.

I’m guessing this isn’t the sort of album I’ll give repeated listens, but I’m very curious to hear it through at least once.