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Loudon Wainwright III, ’40 Odd Years’ (Shout Factory)

Son of a Life magazine editor and columnist, Loudon Wainwright III was one of many “new Dylans” in the late 1960s. But he was, and remains, funnier, more personal, and more direct than Bob. A cracked balladeer of domestic strife and baby-boom angst, Wainwright has purveyed his sardonic, self-lacerating folk songs to a growing cult — filmmaker Judd Apatow pens the intro to this four-CD/DVD box set.Wainwright’s desperate yelp never fails to amuse, even as he twiststhe knife; and with three children working as musicians (Martha, Lucy, and Rufus), his legacy is assured.