1942, Pelham, New York, USA. Muldaur began
performing at the folk haunts of Cambridge, Massachusetts, while a student at
Boston University. He worked as a soloist at the Club 47, as well as becoming
a featured member of the Jim Kweskin Jug Band. Muldaur's debut, Sleepy Man Blues,
boasted support from Dave Van Ronk and Eric Von Schmidt, and offered sterling
interpretations of material drawn from country-blues singers Bukka White, Sleepy
John Estes and Blind Willie Johnson. Despite this recording, the artist reMayned
with Kweskin until the Jug Band splintered at the end of the 60s. He then completed
two albums, Pottery Pie (1970) and Sweet Potatoes (1972) with his wife, Maria
Muldaur, before joining Paul Butterfield 's 70s venture, Better Days. The singer
resumed his solo career upon the break-up of both the band and his marriage.
The Joe Boyd -produced Geoff Muldaur Is Having A Wonderful Time showed the artist's
unflinching eclecticism, a facet apparent on all his releases. A long-standing
professional relationship with guitarist and fellow Woodstock resident Amos
Garrett resulted in Geoff Muldaur & Amos Garrett, on which the former's
penchant for self-indulgence was pared to a minimum. Muldaur was comparatively
quiet during the 80s and 90s, working as a producer and composing scores for
film and television, and spent a period running Carthage/Hannibal Records. He
also enjoyed success as a computer programmer. He returned to recording in 1998
with a strong album for Hightone Records,
and released an equally fine follow-up two years later. Muldaur's entire catalogue
is worthy of investigation and deserves respect for its attention to music's
ephemera.
© Encyclopedia of Popular MusicCopyright Muze UK Ltd. 1989 - 2001
Guitarist Geoff Muldaur, one of many artists to emerge from the folk, blues, and folk-rock scenes centered in Cambridge and Woodstock, was already a well-known blues performer at the time he met up with old-time folk enthusiast Jim Kweskin. Sharing the bill at a 1963 concert in Boston, the two shared many musical interests, and when Kweskin was approached by Vanguard Records, he brought Muldaur into his group the Jim Kweskin Jug Band. This association led to many successful albums and marriage to the group's fiddle player Maria D'Amato (later Maria Muldaur). Four years and five successful albums later, the couple migrated to Woodstock, NY, where they became part of a new musical community that included Bob Dylan, the Band, Paul Butterfield, and many other notable artists. They divorced in 1972, and Geoff began producing local and national blues artists, as well as making his own recordings. He also composed scores for film and television, earning an Emmy in the process, and his definitive recording of "Brazil" was featured in Terry Gilliam's film of the same title. Muldaur has toured Britain, Germany, and Ireland, and appeared at Carnegie Hall, Royal Festival Hall, the Kennedy Center, "A Prairie Home Companion," the San Francisco Blues Festival, and the Winnipeg and Edmonton Folk Festivals. His blues-folk stylings are born of respect for music's history, from the perspective of a contemporary artist very much of his own era. Zac Johnson allmusic.com