Maria Muldaur's 1973 debut album remains, for better or worse, the template for all those eclectic SoCal songbird collections by people like Linda Ronstadt and Valerie Carter; albums that included a little jazz, a little blues, one or two country songs (written by Dolly Parton, usually) and a familiar rocker, preferably one from the '50s or '60s.
Muldaur had an advantage over all these women, most of whom learned how to sing with rock or pop bands, in that she sang blues and jazz with two East Coast jug bands before heading West. "Midnight at the Oasis" and two solid followup albums notwithstanding, her star quickly faded, a victim mainly of producers who tried to bolster her saucy image with rote funky arrangements. Actually, the saucy image was something Maria herself always promoted (she's recorded "Don't You Feel My Leg" half a dozen times, at least). But a saucy image without good material is like gravy without potatoes.
Muldaur sang mostly Christian music in the '80s. In the past 10 years, though, she's returned with a vengeance to her jazz and blues roots, sporting a swampy southern style that she calls "bluesiana." Having developed into a husky roots interpreter of extraordinary wit, she's released a string of mostly overlooked records in a wide range of styles: '40s swing, torch songs, modern standards and a fun series of jazz-for-children albums.