Maria Muldaur

Muldaur was born, on September 12, 1942,{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GQglDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Maria+D%27Amato%22+born&pg=PA662 |title=Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings: Volume 3 |first=Steve |last=Sullivan |year=2017 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers |isbn=9781442254497 |page=662}}{{Better source needed |reason=Date differs in provided source (WP:NOTRS) |date=September 2022}} in Greenwich Village, New York City, and attended Hunter College High School.{{cite news |last1=Johnston |first1=Laurie |title=Competition Intense Among Intellectually Gifted 6th Graders for Openings at Hunter College High School |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/03/21/archives/competition-intense-among-intellectually-gifted-6th-graders-for.html |access-date=10 May 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=21 March 1977}}

Muldaur cites as early musical influences classic country music by Kitty Wells, Hank Williams, Hank Snow, Hank Thompson, Ernest Tubb, and Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys; early rhythm and blues artists like Chuck Willis, Little Richard, Ruth Brown, Fats Domino, and Muddy Waters; Alan Freed "rock 'n' roll" shows; and doo-wop groups such as The Platters and The Five Satins.{{cite web|url=http://www.digitalinterviews.com/digitalinterviews/views/muldaur.shtml|title=Maria Muldaur interview|author=Digital Interviews|date=October 2000|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928085514/http://www.digitalinterviews.com/digitalinterviews/views/muldaur.shtml|archive-date=2011-09-28}}

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.{{cite book|title=The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music|editor=Colin Larkin|editor-link=Colin Larkin (writer)|publisher=Virgin Books|date=1997|edition=Concise|isbn=1-85227-745-9|page=884}} 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, contained her hit single "Midnight at the Oasis", which reached number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1974. It peaked at number 21 on the UK Singles Chart.{{cite book|first=David|last=Roberts|year=2006|title=British Hit Singles & Albums|edition=19th|publisher=Guinness World Records Limited|location=London|isbn=1-904994-10-5|page=382}} Later that year, she released her second album, Waitress in a Donut Shop. This included 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 peaked at #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:Maria Muldaur band, Cambridge 1983.jpg, England]]

File:Maria Muldaur Cambridge 1983-detail.jpg

File:MariaMuldaur1996.jpg, 1996]]

Around this 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 that 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 (1989).

{{Blockquote|People ask me — why do you do these sexist songs? That's bullshit. That's a valid emotion that's a part of us all.{{cite book |last1=Heslam |first1=David |title=The NME Rock 'n' Roll Years |date=1992 |publisher=Reed International Books Ltd. |location=London |isbn=978-0-600-57602-0| id= CN 5585 |page=276 |edition=1st |url=https://archive.org/details/nmerocknrollyear0000unse/page/276 |access-date=10 May 2021}}}}

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.{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/maria-muldaur-mn0000035464/biography|title=Maria Muldaur: Artist Biography |first=Steve |last=Huey |work=AllMusic|access-date=May 28, 2019 }}

Muldaur continued to perform, tour, and record after her success in the mid 1970s, including a turn at the Teatro ZinZanni in 2001.{{cite news |last1=Stafford |first1=Matthew |title=Cirque du Supper— Teatro ZinZanni |url=https://www.sfweekly.com/dining/cirque-du-supper/ |access-date=10 May 2021 |work=SF Weekly |date=14 March 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.{{cite web|url=https://blues.org/#ref=bluesmusicawards_nominees|title=Blues Music Awards Nominees - 2013 - 34th Blues Music Awards|website=Blues.org|access-date=2013-03-21}}

In 2003, Muldaur performed at Carnegie Hall in a Peggy Lee tribute concert produced by Richard Barone.{{Cite web|url=https://www.peggylee.com/solos/july2004.html|title=PeggyLee.com - There'll Be Another Spring: A Tribute to Miss Peggy Lee|website=Peggylee.com|access-date=September 7, 2019}} In 2018 she performed in Barone's Central Park concert Music & Revolution along with John Sebastian and others from her Greenwich Village days.{{cite web|url=https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/8468716/richard-barone-hosts-summerstage-tribute-music-revolution-greenwich-village |title=Richard Barone to Host SummerStage Tribute: 'Music + Revolution: Greenwich Village in the 1960s'|website=Billboard.com\accessdate=September 7, 2019}}

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.{{Cite web|date=2021-03-19|title=Maria Muldaur with Tuba Skinny Proclaim 'Let's Get Happy Together' on New Album|url=https://www.americanbluesscene.com/maria-muldaur-with-tuba-skinny-proclaim-lets-get-happy-together-on-new-album/|access-date=2021-05-28|website=American Blues Scene|language=en-US}}

• The Even Dozen Jug Band (1964, credited as Maria D'Amato) (Elektra, EKS-7246)

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

• Pottery Pie (1969) (Reprise, RS-6350)
• Sweet Potatoes (1972) (Reprise, MS-2073)

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

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

• Festival:The Newport Folk Festival 1965 (Vanguard VRS-9225/VSD-79225) - (as Maria D'Amato) "Tricks Ain't Walkin' No More"; backing on Eric von Schmidt, "My Love Comes Rolling Down"
• Wendy Waldman, Love Has Got Me (1973, Warner Bros.) – Background vocals on "Lee's Traveling Song"
• Linda Ronstadt, Heart Like a Wheel (1974, Capitol) – 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) – Harmonies/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) – on two songs
• Terry Robb, Stop This World (1996, Burnside BCD-0025)
• Johnny's Blues: A Tribute to Johnny Cash (2003, Northern Blues) – Muldaur contributes "Walking the Blues". The Johnny Cash version is on the album The Legend (Sun, 1970) and on The Essential Johnny Cash 1955–1983 (Legacy, 1992)
• Bill Kirchen, Word to the Wise (2010, Proper) – Vocals on "Ain't Got Time For the Blues".

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.mariamuldaur.com/ Official website]
• [http://www.wirz.de/music/evendoz.htm Illustrated Even Dozen Jug Band discography]

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Category:1942 births

Category:American women singers

Category:American folk singers

Category:American people of Italian descent

Category:Black Top Records artists

Category:Reprise Records artists

Category:Warner Records artists

Category:Hunter College High School alumni

Category:Living people

Category:Musicians from Manhattan

Category:People from Greenwich Village

Category:Singers from New York City

Category:Jerry Garcia Band members

Category:Even Dozen Jug Band members

Category:21st-century American women