Sun 9/18 @ 7:30PM
When you trace back the roots of Americana, there are plenty of high-profile artists — from The Band and the Flying Burrito Brothers to John Hiatt and even Linda Ronstadt — that helped create the amalgamative genre.
One of whom is singer Maria Muldaur. While the New York City native was singing the blues, bluegrass and Appalachian music in the ’60s, she’s best known for her 1974 Grammy Award-nominated hit “Midnight at the Oasis.”
Today, Muldaur is touring her latest project Way Past Midnight, which finds the baby boomer singing her hits, as well as choice covers by Peggy Lee (“I’m a Woman”), J.J. Cale (“Cajun Moon”) and Percy Mayfield (“Please, Send Me Someone to Love”).
CoolCleveland talked to Muldaur about her reflections of “Midnight at the Oasis,” her upcoming concert Sun 9/18 at The Kent Stage, and her legacy.
What are your memories of performing in Cleveland over the years?
I have played there many, many times. The first time I remember being in Cleveland was opening for Stephen Stills in early 1974 when “Midnight at the Oasis” was just starting its run on the charts.
That’s an important time in your career. What did it feel like?
It was a very pleasant, happy surprise for me. “Midnight at the Oasis” was a song I included on a very eclectic album. There were different genres of music on it. Someone recently said I single-handedly invented Americana music decades before anyone gave it a name. They pointed out that on my first solo album I had a Dolly Parton song, New Orleans blues tune and just a wide variety of stuff.
Where did “Midnight at the Oasis” come from?
This is a song my guitar player had written. I felt pretty over my head making my first solo album in Los Angeles with all of the big dogs like Dr. John and Ry Cooder: All of these great musical heroes of mine. So this guitar player was being helpful to me and I ended up including “Midnight at the Oasis” on the album because we needed a medium tempo song. That filled the bill. We threw it on the album as an afterthought and God blessed me and rewarded me mightily for that gesture of gratitude. That was the song everybody decided they loved the best and 42 years later it’s still a classic. People ask me if I ever get sick of performing my hits and I’m not one of those spoiled rock stars who complains how tired it is to play their hit songs. You know, I think it’s just a blessing that a song I picked almost by accident turned out to be so beloved by so many people around the world.
Let’s fast forward to your most recent effort, Way Past Midnight, which chronicles your 50-plus year history. What was the idea about that project?
Two years ago marked 40 years since “Midnight at the Oasis” came out and I was making on average an album a year. I produced the last 20 albums myself and I had Grammy nominations for some of my albums. But I was thinking, “What should I do for my 40th album?” I thought maybe because it was a milestone of the 40th anniversary to kind of step back and reflect on all of the wonderful musical adventures I’ve had and all of the amazing artists I’ve been privileged to work and perform with. So I created a show called “Way Past Midnight.” That’s what I’ll be doing at the Kent Stage. “Way Past Midnight” is a multimedia retrospective in which I kind of trace the chronology of my own musical journey doing various forms of American roots music. It’s mostly music but sort of woven together with wonderful little stories of people I got to play with.
In terms of a new album, do you have anything in the works?
I do have a couple of albums I’m working on. One’s going to be a tribute to a woman who was a big blues artist from New Orleans, Blue Lu Barker. I’m going to record that in New Orleans. And the other one is a secret. I can’t tell you about that.
Finally, what’s the legacy of Maria Muldaur?
Nobody ever asked me this question before but I think my legacy would be that I did my part to keep a lot of the great American roots music alive and well. I’m not the only one, but I’ve certainly made it my life mission.
thekentstage.com/maria-muldaur/