GRAMMY.com Exclusive First Listen: Rufus Wainwright

GRAMMY-nominated artist debuts new song "WWIII" only on GRAMMY.com

GRAMMY.com

GRAMMY-nominated artist Rufus Wainwright is set to release his seventh studio album, Out Of The Game, on May 1. Ahead of the album's release, GRAMMY.com has your exclusive first listen to the iTunes exclusive bonus song "WWIII."

The son of GRAMMY winner Loudon Wainwright III and singer Kate McGarrigle, Rufus Wainwright has been described by Elton John as "the greatest songwriter on the planet." Wainwright released his self-titled debut album in 1998. He scored his highest charting album with 2007's Release The Stars, which peaked at No. 23 on the Billboard 200. In 2008 Wainwright scored the first GRAMMY nomination of his career for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album for Rufus Does Judy At Carnegie Hall, a recreation of Judy Garland's famed GRAMMY Album Of The Year-winning concert album.

Produced by three-time GRAMMY winner Mark Ronson, Out Of The Game features special guests such as Wilco's Nels Cline, the Dap-Kings, Sean Lennon, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Nick Zinner. Ripe with pop, doo-wop, dance and gospel elements, the album is influenced by classic recordings from the '70s by artists such as David Bowie, Elton John, Harry Nilsson, and Steely Dan. Ronson, who picked up Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical honors at the 50th Annual GRAMMY Awards, was lured to the project upon hearing a demo for the title track.

"Hearing 'Out Of The Game,' set this warm, '70s, slightly Laurel Canyon-meets-Young Americans tone," said Ronson. "I started to hear sounds and ideas as soon as I heard that demo."

"[Mark and I] were both born in the '70s and that's the first music we heard," said Wainwright. "I think it kind of gives us a right to pull from that, because our generation really was the last one that was actually there."