Biography
Born in Pelham, New York, on August 12, 1943, Geoff Muldaur first encountered vintage jazz through his older brother at age five, sparking a lifelong musical interest. He took up guitar at 16 and launched the Goombay Rhythm Kings while enrolled in prep school. Deeply absorbed in blues and folk traditions, he shifted to Boston in 1961 and soon entered the city’s budding folk circles. In 1963 Jim Kweskin & the Jug Band, a leading New England group celebrated for its playful approach to American roots music, invited him to join; the ensemble issued its self-titled debut that year and followed with Jug Band Music in 1965. Between those projects Prestige Records released Geoff’s solo album Sleepy Man Blues. Maria D’Amato, born in New York’s Greenwich Village on September 12, 1943, had already performed with the Even Dozen Jug Band alongside John Sebastian and David Grisman before she moved to Boston and entered the Jug Band as vocalist and fiddler on its second album. Geoff and Maria soon began a relationship and married in 1964. They remained with the Jug Band for the 1966 release See Reverse for Title and the 1967 album Garden of Joy until Kweskin disbanded the group the next year. Reprise Records, which had signed the Jug Band for Garden of Joy, retained the couple as a duo and issued their debut Pottery Pie in 1968. Produced by Geoff’s longtime friend Joe Boyd, the album mixed blues, folk, and pop selections performed with conviction and humor; though it failed to reach wide commercial audiences, critics embraced it and Carthage Records reissued the set in 1987 under Boyd’s supervision. In 1972 Geoff & Maria Muldaur delivered their second album Sweet Potatoes, which carried the tongue-in-cheek credit “Produced by Nobody,” yet the record proved their final joint effort; the couple divorced later that year. Maria scored a solo success in 1973 with the single “Midnight at the Oasis” and continued recording pop, spiritual, and blues material while collaborating with Jerry Garcia, Paul Butterfield, and Linda Ronstadt. Geoff issued several solo albums and appeared on recordings by the Everly Brothers, John Cale, and Sippie Wallace; he rejoined Kweskin for the 2016 album Penny’s Farm. Omnivore Recordings issued remastered editions of both Pottery Pie and Sweet Potatoes in 2018, complete with new interviews featuring Geoff and Maria in the liner notes.
Albums
