Martha Wainwright - 6 Songs EP (2025) Hi-Res

6 Songs was an EP released in 1999 on CD, and sold exclusively at live shows.

As part of the forthcoming 20th anniversary re-release and tour of the debut self-titled album, 6 Songs is now available digitally worldwide and a limited number of CD's will be sold at the upcoming 20th anniversary shows.

'I moved to New York from Montreal in late 1998 and spent a couple of years doing shows and playing with various musicians around town and on the west coast - this 6 songs ep was born out of that time and I used it to try and break into the music business. All this was under the artful and playful guidance of my first manager Nicholas “Hickory” Hill. Nick Hill wasn’t just my manager-he was, and is, a great friend and a mentor. At the time he was also a much needed positive and dependable male presence. I lived with him and his wife and their young child in Brooklyn. He booked me countless shows and set up my first email address, got me my first cell phone, introduced me to musicians in New York , produced recording sessions and found me a lawyer. My mother adored him, as everyone who knows him does.

He invited me to New York after hearing my Ground Floor cassette and booked me on a night of female singers “nightingales” at the Bottom Line on W 4th street ( I knew it well from playing with my parents and the Roches as a kid) . Then he booked me for a weekly gig at the Nightingales Bar and tried to get me as seen as possible by record people. He really believed in me, even though I was unsteady.

We spent 5 years or so working very hard to try and get me my start. This 6 songs Ep is one that we self released and sold at shows. There were many other recordings and songs but we liked these and felt they put my best foot forward-a couple are taken from my first cassette- “Laurel & Hardy”, “Don’t Forget”. “NY, NY, NY” and “You’ve Got a Way” are from a session we did at The Magic Shop studio with some great players- Jimi Zhivago, Doug Wieselman, Andrew Hall, David Mansfield, George Javori. Two of them are no longer with us, but all certainly were known on the music scene in New York which I was elated to be a part of. The first song “Lolita” was recorded in LA with Ethan Johns and has Teddy Thompson on back up vocals and Joey Waronker on drums. Teddy and I were part of the “children of” set and had privilege in the music business having grown up in it. "Jimi" -named after Jimi Zhivago- was recorded in Brooklyn with Bill Dobrow on drums, who I would play with for a bunch of years and a friend and guitar pedal maker, Jon Shuman on guitar. Tom Mennier on piano is ever present as he has been throughout my career. I always, through my recording and releases, carried the past with me and some of these songs I still sing today.

It would take another 5 years on my quirky path to get signed to a label and it is clear from this ep that my musical influences and interests were wide and diverse- a little country, a little Jazzy, a little pop-rock. Words that are a little nauseating, but are used to fit artists into boxes whether they can be or not. In the late nineties and early 2000s, labels were shifting away from artists' development and some of us were made to do it ourselves without label support. With Nick Hill by my side and these great musicians, and a foot in the door through my family, I peddled my wares-this 6 song cd- and had a great time doing it.'