The first is Martha articulating her hurt on learning how her father and esteemed US singer-songwriter, Loudon Wainwright III, had wanted her mother, late Canadian folk star Kate McGarrigle, to abort the pregnancy.

The other is her realisation that her father's songs and music career were always more important than his talented musical offspring, that includes Martha, her older brother Rufus Wainwright and younger sister Lucy Wainwright Roche.

The dynamics of North America's preeminent folk family have always intrigued.

This was especially the case for Martha when she launched her own career with 2005 single Bloody Mother F--king Asshole, written as a scathing assessment of her father.

But, at times, the focus on the Wainwright family tree frustrated Martha.

"Every interview I did from my 20s through to my 30s, and into my 40s, was about my parents, especially at the beginning, and it drove me crazy," Martha says.

"But now I like it. It's certainly made me question my worth. There was a part of me wondering, 'what about me' and that is reflected in my music, but I don't know what came first."

For the past 14 years family has been the top priority for Martha. She and her ex-husband and bandmate, Brad Albetta, share two sons, Arcangelo, 14, and Francis, 10.

During that time Martha has recorded and released the adult contemporary albums Come Home To Mama (2012), Goodnight City (2016) and Love Will Be Reborn (2021). The latter written in the aftermath of her bitter divorce with Albetta.

However, the 47-year-old is mindful of not repeating the sins of her father. Her sons' needs have always come before music.

"I wish I was more like my dad and his marriage to his work because his work is phenomenal. It's exceptional," she says over Zoom from her home in Montreal, Canada.

"I always worry I'm not. For women in particular, this idea of being good at your job and being a good mother, it's very hard.

"There's a lot ego and selfishness that comes with being a songwriter and going to your studio and writing every day and being like, 'this is the priority.'

"It's not conducive to being really present for your children all the time. I've really been more of the latter and I've always been that way."

But as her sons discover their own interests and appreciation for music (Arcangelo has performed with her), she's realised being a mother who is a working artist is important, too.

"What's been really cool is that my children need me to work and they need me to be good at what I'm doing and they're watching," she says.

"Whether they want me to know or not. I don't know if they love my music or not. I don't want to fail them. I don't want to fail myself."

Martha jokes that Arcangelo is "cocky and confident" and likes to brag about what stages he's played.

"I've had to say a couple of times, 'that's nepotism'," she smiles.

It's fitting that Martha is using her platform to help her son, because she freely admits the Wainwright name opened many doors in her formative years.

One example was the January 2005 Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man tribute show at the Sydney Opera House where a then unknown Martha performed alongside her mother and aunt Kate and Anna McGarrigle and brother Rufus Wainwright.

The line-up also included Nick Cave, Beth Orton, Jarvis Cocker and Teddy Thompson.

"I was able to hitch to their wagon and learn and I got to play with people who are great," she says.

Martha's success in Australia is often attributed to that show and the popularity of Bloody Mother F--king Asshole on Triple J.

It's been six years since Martha has toured Australia - the biggest gap of her career.

Ahead of the tour Martha has begun writing her next studio album.

"I don't dedicate enough time to it daily, as some artists do, and I have a tendency to do other things, like try and clean the house and I help run a small club [Ursa] here [in Montreal]," she says.

"So there's always stuff to do there or take care of the kids or be on the road doing shows.

"Then I think I need a new song and I get anxious and get frantic and force myself to sit down. Usually some time's passed and shit has happened and I'm filled with feelings about all sorts of things and it comes."

Martha has internal battles constantly about self-censorship when songwriting.

"[I'll be thinking] is this good, is this interesting, has this been expressed well? You're constantly editing," she says.

"Sometimes songs just fly out of you and you're not going to change anything, no matter what. If it came out like that it's just the way it needs to be.

"I felt this more in the last album [Love Will Be Reborn] because I felt a lot of anger and I was upset coming out of a difficult breakup.

"It's always dangerous to write too much about that, for the children's sake. That would be the first and only editing factor I think is truly important."

The other pressing creative projects are preparing her self-titled debut EP for its 20-year anniversary vinyl release in 2025 and curating a collection of unreleased recordings from 1998 to 2005.

Martha says she's been surprisingly "impressed" with the recordings she hasn't heard in over 20 years.

"I was better than I thought I was and my pitch is really good," she says.

"On some of these recordings I was 21, 22 or 23 years old and it's pretty impressive."

Martha Wainwright plays Newcastle City Hall on May 11.