Maria Muldaur
Maria Muldaur is an American folk and blues singer who was part of the American folk music revival in the early 1960s. She recorded the 1973 hit song "Midnight at the Oasis" and has recorded albums in the folk, blues, early jazz, gospel, country, and R&B traditions.
She was the wife of musician Geoff Muldaur and is the mother of singer-songwriter Jenni Muldaur.
Career
Muldaur was born on September 12, 1942, in Greenwich Village in Manhattan, New York and attended Hunter College High School on the Upper East Side.Muldaur cites Kitty Wells, Hank Williams, Hank Snow, Hank Thompson, Ernest Tubb, and Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys; early rhythm and blues artists including Chuck Willis, Little Richard, Ruth Brown, Fats Domino, and Muddy Waters; Alan Freed "rock 'n' roll" shows; and doo-wop groups like The Platters and The Five Satins as being her early musical influences.
Muldaur began her career in the early 1960s as Maria D'Amato, performing with John Sebastian, David Grisman, and Stefan Grossman as a member of the Even Dozen Jug Band. She then joined Jim Kweskin & the Jug Band as a featured vocalist and occasional fiddle player. During this time, she was part of the Greenwich Village scene that included Bob Dylan, and some of her recollections of the period, particularly with respect to Dylan, appear in Martin Scorsese's 2005 documentary film No Direction Home.
She married fellow Jug Band member Geoff Muldaur, and after the Kweskin group broke up, the couple produced two albums. She began her solo career when their marriage ended in 1972 but retained her married name.
Her first solo album, Maria Muldaur, released in 1973, contains her hit single "Midnight at the Oasis", which reached number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1974. It peaked at No. 21 on the UK Singles Chart. Later in 1974, she released her second album, Waitress in a Donut Shop which includes a re-recording of "I'm a Woman", the Leiber and Stoller number first associated with Peggy Lee and a standout feature from her Jug Band days. Her version of the song reached No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100, and was her last Hot 100 hit in the U.S. to date. The title of this album is taken from a line in another song on the album, "Sweetheart", by Ken Burgan.
File:MariaMuldaur1996.jpg|thumb|220px|Muldaur at the Riverwalk Blues Festival in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, September 1996
Around that time, Muldaur established a relationship with the Grateful Dead. Opening for some Grateful Dead shows in the summer of 1974, with John Kahn, bassist of the Jerry Garcia Band, eventually earned her a seat in the group as a backing vocalist in the late 1970s. Around the same time Muldaur met and eventually collaborated with bluegrass icon Peter Rowan. The two became close, and she was chosen to be the godmother of his daughter Amanda Rowan. She appeared on Super Jam.
Around 1980, Muldaur became a Christian and released a live album, Gospel Nights, and a studio album, There Is A Love. In 1983 she returned to secular music with Sweet and Slow, a set informed by vintage jazz and blues. Muldaur continued to perform, tour, and record after her success in the mid 1970s, including a turn at the Teatro ZinZanni in 2001.
Her 2005 release Sweet Lovin' Ol' Soul was nominated for both a Blues Music Award and a Grammy Award in the Traditional Blues category at the 44th Annual Grammy Awards. In 2013, she was nominated for a Blues Music Award in the Koko Taylor Award category.
In 2003, Muldaur performed at Carnegie Hall in a Peggy Lee tribute concert produced by Richard Barone. In 2018 she performed in Barone's Central Park concert Music & Revolution along with John Sebastian and others from her Greenwich Village days. In 2019, she received the Trailblazer award at the Americana Music Honors & Awards.
In 2021, Muldaur recorded and released the album Let's Get Happy Together, a 40-minute, 12-track album in collaboration with Tuba Skinny.
Discography
[Even Dozen Jug Band]
- ''The Even Dozen Jug Band''
[Jim Kweskin] & the Jug Band
- Jug Band Music
- See Reverse Side for Title
- Garden of Joy
- ''The Best of Jim Kweskin & the Jug Band''
Geoff">Geoff Muldaur">Geoff & Maria Muldaur
- Pottery Pie
- ''Sweet Potatoes''
Solo
| Year | Album title | Label | Catalog number | US | US Blues | AUS | Notes |
| 1973 | Maria Muldaur | Reprise Records | MS-2148 | 3 | 30 | ||
| 1974 | Waitress in a Donut Shop | Reprise | MS-2194 | 23 | 66 | ||
| 1976 | Sweet Harmony | Reprise | MS-2235 | 53 | |||
| 1978 | Southern Winds | Warner Bros. | BSK-3162 | 143 | 91 | ||
| 1979 | Open Your Eyes | Warner Bros. | BSK-3305 | 97 | |||
| 1980 | Gospel Nights | Takoma Records | TAK-7084 | Recorded at McCabe's with The Chambers Brothers | |||
| 1982 | There Is a Love | Myrrh Records | MSB-6685 | ||||
| 1983 | Sweet and Slow | Spindrift Records/Making Waves | SPIN-109 | With Dr. John, Kenny Barron, and other guest artists. | |||
| 1985 | Live in London | Spindrift/Making Waves; Stony Plain Records | SPIN-116; SP-1099 | Recorded on September 7, 1984 at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club. | |||
| 1986 | Transblucency | Uptown Records | UP-27.25 | Recorded 1984–1985 with a jazz septet | |||
| 1990 | On the Sunny Side | Music for Little People/Warner Bros. | 42503 | ||||
| 1992 | Louisiana Love Call | Black Top Records | BT-1081 | Reissued by Shout! Factory with same part number | |||
| 1993 | Jazzabelle | Stony Plain | SPCD-1188 | ||||
| 1994 | Meet Me at Midnite | Black Top | BT-1107 | Reissued by Shout! Factory with same part number | |||
| 1996 | Fanning the Flames | Telarc | CD-83394 | 14 | With Johnny Adams, Huey Lewis, Bonnie Raitt, Mavis Staples, and other guest artists | ||
| 1998 | Southland of the Heart | Telarc | CD-83423 | ||||
| 1998 | Swingin' in the Rain | Music for Little People/Rhino Records | R2-75311 | ||||
| 1999 | Meet Me Where They Play the Blues | Telarc | CD-83460 | With Charles Brown, Danny Caron, David K. Mathews, and other guest artists | |||
| 2000 | Maria Muldaur's Music for Lovers | Telarc | CD-83512 | Compilation | |||
| 2001 | Richland Woman Blues | Stony Plain | SPCD-1270 | 9 | With Raitt, Taj Mahal, Alvin Youngblood Hart, John Sebastian, Roy Rogers, and other guest artists | ||
| 2002 | Animal Crackers in My Soup: The Songs of Shirley Temple | Music for Little People/Rhino | R2-78179 | With Carrie Lyn. | |||
| 2003 | A Woman Alone with the Blues | Telarc | CD-83568 | 9 | |||
| 2003 | Classic Live! | Burnside/DIG Music | UPC: 80440 30110 27 | Live radio broadcasts from 1973 and 1975 | |||
| 2004 | I'm a Woman: 30 Years of Maria Muldaur | Shout! Factory | SF-30219 | Compilation | |||
| 2004 | Sisters & Brothers | Telarc | CD-83588 | With Eric Bibb, and Rory Block | |||
| 2004 | Love Wants to Dance | Telarc | CD-83609 | ||||
| 2005 | Sweet Lovin' Ol' Soul | ||||||
| 2006 | Heart of Mine: Maria Muldaur Sings Love Songs of Bob Dylan | Telarc | CD-83643 | 1 | |||
| 2006 | Songs for the Young at Heart | Music for Little People/Earth Beat!/Rhino | R2-74541 | Compilation | |||
| 2007 | Naughty, Bawdy & Blue | Stony Plain | SPCD-1319 | 4 | With James Dapogny's Chicago Jazz Band and Bonnie Raitt | ||
| 2008 | Live in Concert | Global Recording Artists | UPC: 64641 31264 27 | - | |||
| 2008 | Yes We Can! | Telarc | CD-83672 | 14 | With Joan Baez, Raitt, Phoebe Snow, Jane Fonda, Holly Near, Odetta, Anne Lamott, Marianne Williamson, Amma, Jean Shinoda Bolen, and the Women's Voices for Peace Choir | ||
| 2009 | Maria Muldaur & Her Garden of Joy: Good Time Music for Hard Times | Stony Plain | SPCD-1332 | 11 | |||
| 2010 | Maria Muldaur's Barnyard Dance: Jug Band Music for Kids | Music for Little People/Rhino | R2-524467 | ||||
| 2010 | Christmas at the Oasis | Global Recording Artists | UPC: 64641 31287 28 | ||||
| 2011 | Steady Love | Stony Plain | SPCD-1346 | ||||
| 2012 | ...First Came Memphis Minnie... A Loving Tribute | Stony Plain | SPCD-1358 | With Block, Ruthie Foster, Raitt, Phoebe Snow, Koko Taylor, and other guest artists. | |||
| 2018 | Don't You Feel My Leg: The Naughty Bawdy Blues of Blue Lu Barker | The Last Music Company | LMCD-210 | 10 | |||
| 2021 | Let's Get Happy Together | Stony Plain | SPCD-1429 | 4 | With Tuba Skinny | ||
| 2025 | One Hour Mama: The Blues of Victoria Spivey'' | Nola Blue | NBR-044 |