Martha Wainwright's live performances have received critical praise, with The Telegraph writing that her concerts "leave in no doubt that she is a singular star.

[1]" Apart from music, she has appeared in several film projects, including Martin Scorsese's The Aviator and the HBO miniseries Olive Kitteridge alongside Frances McDormand.

PopMatters called the Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole EP "a rebellious introductory stance for an artist looking to provoke or silence potential critics.

[7] Her debut album featured contributions from her mother, Kate McGarrigle, her brother, Rufus Wainwright, her cousin, Lily Lanken, as well as organ and saxophone from Garth Hudson of The Band.

Pitchfork wrote that the album "proves Martha Wainwright has a strong, distinct, fully formed musical identity, which would be just as impressive by any other name.

"[8] In 2006, Wainwright collaborated with Snow Patrol on their song "Set the Fire to the Third Bar", off their critically and commercially successful album Eyes Open.

[10] Alvin Chan from musicOMH raved that "Lightbody's vocals are perfectly complemented by Canadian songstress Martha Wainwright, whose arrestingly haunting voice is put to good use.

The album was recorded at Sean Lennon's home studio in New York City and produced by Cibo Matto's Yuka Honda.

Guest musicians on the album included Honda, Lennon, Wilco guitarist Nels Cline, and Dirty Three drummer Jim White.

In addition to covers of Offenbach, Claude Dubois and Daniel Bélanger, Wainwright re-recorded three of her own songs in French as well as one by Kate & Anna McGarrigle.

The song "El Condor Pasa" premiered on Speakeasy, a blog affiliated with The Wall Street Journal, via SoundCloud, on October 7, 2015.

[18] Goodnight City was released in November 2016, and received notable praise from Exclaim!, NPR, and The Guardian, who called it "uplifting and powerful.

"[19][20][21] Unlike previous albums, Martha Wainwright chose to co-write several of the songs on Goodnight City with friends and other notable songwriters, including Beth Orton, Glen Hansard, Michael Ondaatje, and Merrill Garbus of Tune-Yards.

Recorded in Montreal, Goodnight City was produced by Thomas Bartlett, who previously worked with Sufjan Stevens and Glen Hansard.

[23] Love Will Be Reborn was made during the pandemic and recorded in Wainwright's hometown of Montreal, in the basement of her café-bar, Ursa, which also served as a studio.

Wainwright released her memoirs in English: Stories I Might Regret Telling You and in French: Rien de grave n'est encore arrivé translated by Fanny Britt in the spring of 2022.