Maria Muldaur

Maria Muldaur (born Maria Grazia Rosa Domenica D'Amato; September 12, 1942) 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. Later in 1974, she released her second album, Waitress in a Donut Shop

Around 1980, Muldaur became a Christian and released a live album, Gospel Nights, and a studio album, There Is A Love. 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 (formerly the W. C. Handy Awards) 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 (Traditional Blues Female) 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 (1964, credited as Maria D'Amato) (Elektra Records, EKS-7246)

Jim Kweskin & the Jug Band Jug Band Music (1965, credited as Maria D'Amato) (Vanguard Records, VDS-79163) See Reverse Side for Title (1966, credited as Maria D'Amato) (Vanguard, VDS-79234) Garden of Joy (1967) (Reprise Records, RS-6266) The Best of Jim Kweskin & the Jug Band (1968, compilation, credited as Maria D'Amato) (Vanguard, VDS-79270)

Geoff & Maria Muldaur Pottery Pie (1969) (Reprise, RS-6350) Sweet Potatoes (1972) (Reprise, MS-2073)

Solo

+ Solo discography 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. (CD reissue: Stony Plain Records, SPCD-1183) 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 (Classic Swing Tunes for Kids of All Ages) 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 (...Remembering Peggy Lee) 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 (Old Highway 61 Revisited) Stony Plain SPCD-1304 6 With Taj Mahal, Tracy Nelson, Pinetop Perkins, Del Rey, Steve James, and other guest artists) 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 (Live at the Rrazz Room) 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 2021Let's Get Happy Together Stony Plain SPCD-1429 4 With Tuba Skinny2025One Hour Mama: The Blues of Victoria Spivey Nola Blue NBR-044

Jerry Garcia Band Cats Under the Stars (1978, Arista Records) Pure Jerry: Warner Theatre, March 18, 1978 (2005, Jerry Made) Pure Jerry: Bay Area 1978 (2009, Jerry Made) Garcia Live Volume Four (2014, ATO Records)

Paul Butterfield's Better Days Better Days (1973, Bearsville Records) – on tracks 5, 7, and 8 It All Comes Back (1973, Bearsville) – credited as "vocals", but no specific tracks given

Other contributions Festival:The Newport Folk Festival 1965 (1967, Vanguard Records VRS-9225/VSD-79225) – (as Maria D'Amato), "Tricks Ain't Walkin' No More"; backing vocals on Eric von Schmidt's, "My Love Comes Rolling Down". Steelyard Blues movie soundtrack (1972, Warner Bros. Records; reissued on CD in 2015 by Real Gone Music) – Lead vocals on three songs ("Georgia Blues", "Do I Care" and "Lonesome Star Blues") which also feature Mike Bloomfield and Paul Butterfield. Wendy Waldman, Love Has Got Me (1973, Warner Bros.) – Background vocals on "Lee's Traveling Song". Mike Seeger The Second Annual Farewell Reunion (1973, Mercury Records) – Vocals and guitar on “Take Me Back to the Sweet Sunny South” (with Mike on the other vocals and the other guitar). Linda Ronstadt, Heart Like a Wheel (1974, Capitol Records) – Harmony vocals on "Heart Like a Wheel". Wendy Waldman, Gypsy Symphony (1974, Warner Bros.) – Background vocals on "Come On Down". Linda Ronstadt, Prisoner In Disguise (1975, Elektra Records) – Harmony/background vocals on "You Tell Me That I'm Falling Down". The Doobie Brothers, Stampede (1975, Warner Bros.) – Vocals on "I Cheat the Hangman". Elvin Bishop, Hog Heaven (1978, Capricorn Records) – on two songs Mike Seeger, Third Annual Farewell Reunion (1994, Rounder Records) – Lead vocals on "The Memory Of Your Smile" (with David Grisman on baritone vocals and guitar and Mike on low tenor vocals and re-tuned mandolin). Terry Robb, Stop This World (1996, Burnside Records BCD-0025) Johnny's Blues: A Tribute to Johnny Cash (2003, NorthernBlues Music) – Muldaur contributes "Walking the Blues"; the Johnny Cash version is on the album The Legend (Sun Records, 1970), and on The Essential Johnny Cash 1955–1983 (Legacy Recordings, 1992). Bill Kirchen, Word to the Wise (2010, Proper Records) – Vocals on "Ain't Got Time For the Blues".