Maria Muldaur

Maria Grazia Rosa Domenica D'Amato (born 12 September 1943; Greenwich Village, New York City), known professionally as Maria Muldaur, is an American folk and blues singer, songwriter and guitarist who came to prominence as part of the American folk music revival of the early 1960s.

Early Life

Muldaur began singing as a child, performing country and western songs with her aunt at the piano from the age of five. As a teenager, her tastes shifted toward rhythm and blues and early rock and roll, and she formed her own girl group, the Cashmeres, while attending Hunter College High School in New York City.

She became immersed in Greenwich Village's folk scene, joining jam sessions and the group Friends of Old Timey Music, and travelled to North Carolina to study bluegrass fiddle with the noted folk and country guitarist Doc Watson.

Career

In 1963, performing as Maria D'Amato, Muldaur joined the Even Dozen Jug Band alongside John Sebastian, David Grisman and Stefan Grossman, a group signed by blues singer Victoria Spivey to her own record label before Elektra Records bought out the contract and released the band's self-titled debut album in 1964. When the unwieldy size of the group made it impractical to book, she relocated to Cambridge, Massachusetts, joining Jim Kweskin & the Jug Band as a featured vocalist and occasional fiddle player, where she met fellow member Geoff Muldaur, whom she married. Following the Kweskin band's breakup, the couple recorded two albums together, Pottery Pie (1969) and Sweet Potatoes (1972), before their marriage ended in 1972 and Muldaur launched her solo career, keeping her married name.

Her self-titled debut solo album, released in 1973, produced her best-known hit, "Midnight at the Oasis," which reached number six on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 21 on the UK Singles Chart, earning several Grammy Award nominations. Her second album, Waitress in a Donut Shop, followed later that year, featuring a re-recording of "I'm a Woman" from her jug band days. Around this period, Muldaur developed a close association with the Grateful Dead, opening shows for the band in the summer of 1974 alongside bassist John Kahn, which led to her later joining the Jerry Garcia Band as a backing vocalist.

From the 1990s onward, Muldaur increasingly turned her focus toward blues, gospel, jazz and the music of Louisiana, releasing a steady stream of acclaimed roots albums, including Richland Woman Blues (2001) and its follow-up, Sweet Lovin' Ol' Soul, both earning Grammy and Blues Foundation nominations for Best Traditional Blues Album, as well as a series of tribute records: Animal Crackers in My Soup: The Songs of Shirley Temple (2002), A Woman Alone with the Blues: Remembering Peggy Lee (2003), and Heart of Mine: Love Songs of Bob Dylan (2006). Her 2008 album, Yes We Can!, featured a "Women's Voices for Peace Choir" including Bonnie Raitt, Joan Baez, Jane Fonda, Odetta, Phoebe Snow and Holly Near.

In 2018, her 41st album, Don't You Feel My Leg: The Naughty Bawdy Blues of Blue Lu Barker, recorded in New Orleans, earned her sixth Grammy nomination, and in September 2019 she received the Americana Music Association's Lifetime Achievement Americana Trailblazer Award.

She has continued to tour and record extensively with her Red Hot Bluesiana Band, releasing her 43rd album, Let's Get Happy Together, alongside the trad jazz group Tuba Skinny, and in 2026 released her 44th album, One Hour Mama: The Blues of Victoria Spivey, a tribute to the blues singer who first signed her decades earlier, earning her a seventh Grammy nomination alongside two Blues Foundation nominations, for Best Traditional Blues Album and Best Female Blues Singer.

Personal Life

Muldaur is the mother of singer-songwriter Jenni Muldaur, her daughter with Geoff Muldaur. Across more than six decades in music, Muldaur has become widely recognised as a dedicated champion of female blues and jazz pioneers, including Victoria Spivey, Sippie Wallace and Memphis Minnie, helping to preserve and reintroduce their work to new generations of listeners.

Current Activities

2026 marks the 53rd anniversary of "Midnight at the Oasis," and Muldaur and her band are presenting a multimedia retrospective show, Way Past Midnight, in special performances across the United States, alongside continued promotion of her Grammy-nominated album One Hour Mama: The Blues of Victoria Spivey.