According to Rufus Wainwright’s song “April Fools,” “Life’s a train that goes from February on, day by day, but it’s making a stop on April first.” And the Canadian-American artist will indeed be making a local stop on that date — no foolin’ — when he headlines Stanford Live’s annual Bing Fling.

Wainwright has taken his musical career on many adventures over the past few decades, from his lush, original pop gems like “April Fools,” to Judy Garland tributes, ancient Roman opera epics and adaptations of Shakespearean sonnets, to name a few, and garnering Grammy nominations and Juno Awards along the way. Fans are drawn in by his unmistakable voice, attention to melody, smart lyrics and charming presence, whether he’s performing with a symphony, rock band or as a solo troubadour.

“This is a very unique concert,” Wainwright said of his Stanford show, where he will be backed by a small orchestra and which will include favorites and “little surprises” from throughout his repertoire. “I have a whole subset of beautiful arrangements for smaller ensembles, so we’re going to get to dip into some of those pieces, which I’m excited to do,” he said.

The event, which is this year celebrating the 10th anniversary of Stanford Live’s flagship venue Bing Concert Hall, will also include Stanford student musicians and a performance of Justin Peck’s “Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming” by San Francisco Ballet.

The New York-born, Montreal-raised Wainwright currently lives in Los Angeles with husband Jörn Weisbrodt (who, like Stanford Live leader Chris Lorway, is a former artistic director of Toronto’s Luminato Festival). Daughter Viva, along with mini-Aussie pup Siegfried, are the “two lights of our lives,” he said.

Family ties helped spark his next major project, the upcoming “Folkocracy,” a collection of 15 songs that see Wainwright embracing his folk-royalty heritage, as the son of the late Canadian folk artist Kate McGarrigle and American singer-songwriter Loudon Wainwright III.

“I grew up in a folkocracy, so I’m sort of tapping into that tradition,” he said of the new record. While “Unfollow the Rules,” his 2020 pop album, was partly inspired by his return to Southern California, where he spent the breakout days of his career, the new record “actually propels further back to my childhood and to my folk upbringing, which was pretty profound when you look at my family, and especially my parents and their work,” he said.

The tracklist of “Folkocracy” includes songs Wainwright heard often in his formative years as well as some he’s learned more recently (and includes a new version of one of his own, “Going To A Town”).

“I wanted to bring forth that kind of folk music spirit, which is not always necessarily even about the material; it’s more about the way it’s delivered. It’s about playing an instrument, having a certain sense of intimacy when you’re performing a song, and also being very sparse in your offering,” he said. “So much music today is so constructed and so architectural … this is about bringing it down and making it more about the song.”

Coming out on June 2 (just ahead of his 50th birthday, in July), the album was produced by Mitchell Froom and features an all-star group of guest artists.

“It was who was available, who’s not going to charge me 8 trillion dollars, and who’s game,” he said with a laugh, when asked about his star-studded roster. That elite team includes David Byrne, Sheryl Crow, Susanna Hoffs, Van Dyke Parks, Chaka Khan, Wainwright’s aunt Anna McGarrigle, and his sisters Martha Wainwright and Lucy Wainwright Roche.

“For a lot of singers today — a lot of pop singers especially — they are used to autotune, to being produced by these very glamorous pop producers,” he said of recruiting collaborators to embrace the record’s more vulnerable, stripped-back style. “It’s not always the easiest sell but I did pretty good, I think.”

“Folkcocracy’s” dark first single, released March 7, is his take on the old murder ballad “Down In The Willow Garden,” inspired by the Everly Brothers version Wainwright grew up with. Brandi Carlile’s beautiful, haunting guest vocals on the “brutal, graphic” song, which is written from the perspective of a man who slays his lover, “give it more of the feminine side,” he said. “It is very tough, the subject matter, and, sadly, something that exists in our world. Violence against women was around back then and it’s around now.”

The next release from the album will be a cover of folk icon Peggy Seeger’s “Heading For Home,” which features superstar singer John Legend. “That’s a real doozy,” Wainwright said. “Every time I listen to it, I cry.”

Wainwright puts his distinctive sonic stamp on everything he does, but he said his approach to cover songs differs from how he handles his own original compositions. When interpreting the songwriting of others, “I’m really relying heavily on my animalistic singer side, which is far more instinctive, and very hungry,” he said. The experience is “more clinical in a certain way. You’re really just trying to serve the song. You have to be more aware of if that’s actually happening or not.”

Rufus Wainwright performs as part of “Celebrating Stanford Live’s Next Decade” on Saturday, April 1, at 8 p.m. at Bing Concert Hall, 327 Lasuen St., Stanford. More information is available at live.stanford.edu.