Maria Muldaur's musical career has been characterized by her ability to explore a wide variety of musical styles, starting with her beginnings in jug band/folk music to her explorations of pop, blues, jazz and country. For her 2001 release, Richland Woman Blues, Muldaur was so moved by a visit to blues pioneer Memphis Minnie's gravesite in Walls, Mississippi, that she decided to record an album of blues music primarily from 20's and 30's. For her latest release on Telarc Records, A Woman Alone With The Blues... Remembering Peggy Lee, Muldaur again has decided to record a "theme album," this time featuring the music of Peggy Lee.
Interestingly, Maria Muldaur's career has mirrored that of Peggy Lee in terms of her musical versatility and her work as a singer and songwriter. Born in Jamestown, North Dakota as Norma Engstrom, Peggy Lee had her first musical impact as a big band singer for Benny Goodman. During her career, Lee was noted for recording in a variety of styles including blues, jazz, pop, latin and even rock. As with Muldaur, Lee was also noted for having an alluring, sexy voice and a distinctive delivery in her musical presentation. Based on only these few facts, it seems only logical the Muldaur would choose to record her interpretations of songs recorded by Ms. Lee.
While the twelve song tribute contains only three songs with writing credits to Peggy Lee (Muldaur suggests in the liner notes that there are actually five Peggy Lee written or co-written songs), A Woman Alone With The Blues...Remembering Peggy Lee contains tunes that are almost immediately recognizable as Peggy Lee classics. Among these are Ms. Lee's "theme song," "Fever," "Black Coffee," and "I Don't Know Enough About You." Regardless of the song choices (which Muldaur indicates that she experienced great difficulty in selecting), the delivery and feelings evoked by these renditions are very true to the originals. As indicated earlier, so similar are the careers and deliveries that the feelings coming out of each song are definitely true to the originals.
Regardless of whether you are a fan of Peggy Lee or Maria Muldaur, you will definitely enjoy A Woman Alone With The Blues...Remembering Peggy Lee. For more information on Peggy Lee, visit her official website at www.peggylee.com. For details on Maria Muldaur and her other recordings, including A Woman Alone With The Blues...Remembering Peggy Lee, you can visit her website at www.mariamuldaur.com or the Telarc website at www.telarc.com.
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