Loudon Wainwright III: “I Thought I Was Going To Die” — Scuba Diving with Danny Thompson! 50 years in the music business and Australian tour.

Loudon Wainwright III joins The Mixtape ahead of his long-awaited Australian tour — and he's got one hell of a Perth story to tell.

During a previous visit to Western Australia, Loudon went scuba diving with the late, great bassist Danny Thompson. Neither had scuba-dived before, their instructor was smoking a cigarette while signing them up, and things eventually went very wrong when Loudon became wedged inside an underwater cave and thought he was going to die.

That's just one of the extraordinary stories in this conversation.

Loudon also talks about 50 years of songwriting and performing, his love of Thelonious Monk and Merle Haggard, the influence of his father's record collection, the night he fell backwards into Robert Wyatt's drum kit, and the time he was forced off stage at the Royal Albert Hall after the audience started throwing beer.

And, of course, Loudon puts together his Mixtape — six songs spanning Edwin Starr, Merle Haggard, Johnny Winter, Frank Loesser, Irving Berlin and Ry Cooder.

Loudon Wainwright III returns to Australia in February, finishing his tour in Perth at the Astor Theatre on February 17.

Australian Tour Tickets: www.destroyalllines.com