Folk legend at Arden Friday

Blues-folk singer Maria Muldaur is hitting 70, but you wouldn’t know it from the passion and energy in her voice.

Sitting in her San Francisco Bay home, the forever-young legend speaks vividly of a career that has stood on the vanguard of North American musical history for decades.

“My whole life I’ve explored Americana. Possibly with the exception of my detour into pop, if you look before and after that point, I’ve explored American roots music,” says Muldaur.

Nominated for Grammy Awards on multiple occasions, Muldaur is travelling to St. Albert’s Arden Theatre on Friday, April 4 for an unparalleled concert with her “high-energy, kickass” Red-Hot Bluesiana Band.

Providing support is Chris Burns (keys-bass), Craig Caffle (guitar) and Kent Bryson (drums).

Muldaur’s career spans over 50 years and in that time she’s lived life on her own terms. Imbued with a spunky spirit, Muldaur has followed her own path refusing to be boxed into any category.

As part of the Greenwich Village folk scene that included Bob Dylan, she launched her career in the 1960s with the Even Dozen Jug Band.

But it was the 1974 megahit Midnight at the Oasis that propelled Muldaur into the musical stratosphere. It clicked with listeners and reached number six on the Billboard Hot 100.

At the same time she established a rewarding pop-rock partnership with the Grateful Dead before settling comfortably into her favourite idiom – the blues.

In her 40 years since Midnight at the Oasis, Muldaur has recorded 40 solo albums covering every form of American roots music from gospel, R&B, jazz, big band and several award-winning children’s albums.

Much of Muldaur’s spiritual nourishment has come from vocalists of the old south. The 2007 release Naughty Bawdy and Blue paid tribute to blueswomen such as Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith.

But it was Chicago blues firebrand Memphis Minnie that ultimately proved the greatest influence on Muldaur as both a singer and woman. That hero worship is reflected in the latest 2012 release … First Came Memphis Minnie.

For Muldaur, Memphis Minnie was the black singer who defied all the odds – racial, financial, societal, and succeeded in an area dominated by men.

“It was her indomitable spirit in facing all obstacles. She created the life she envisioned and didn’t let any barriers stand in her way. She didn’t let any bullshit suppress her spirit.”

Muldaur will be singing a few Memphis Minnie songs at the Arden concert.

“Her descriptions are so pithy, so direct and in the pictures she creates you could see what she saw.”

But the bulk of the concert is dedicated to the 2011 Steady Love album, part of Muldaur’s uninterrupted exploration of vintage blues.

“For this album I went to New Orleans. We did the album and it was funky and high-energy. It’s what I call Bluesiana, my own brand of rhythm and blues and ‘swamp funk’ – that’s what they call it down there.”

Performing at the Arden on Friday brings an additional bonus. She hopes to reconnect with Holger Petersen, founder of Stony Plain Records, the little northern blues studio that recorded eight of her award-winning albums.

“He’s the nicest guy in the business and he shares my reverence for blues. This music is worthy of being kept alive and Holger shares my enthusiasm. We’ve been friends for years and that’s why our collaboration works so well.”

For more information visit www.mariamuldaur.com.