A court jester in folksinger neverland, Loudon Wainwright III is mad and sad as hell, but like the narrator of the song "I'm Not Gonna Cry," he doesn't want to show it. He's upset from losing his mother, from being 53 years old, from new wounds over old scars, and from new losses and old regrets. But Wainwright can't let himself off the hook, and so, using emotional exhibitionism as therapy, he turns his woe into art. In fact, he wrote most of these songs while living in his mother's cottage for 18 months after her passing. As often as not, the poignant moments come not when he's being most confessional, but when he's playing peekaboo--his cunning and wit failing to conceal his pain. Wainwright is funny in the hurt places and hurt in the funny places, and the record is clever, companionable, sweet, and sad. --Henry Cabot Beck