Search - Geoff & Maria Muldaur :: Pottery Pie

A Folk Gem From Long Ago

David B. Erickson | Asheville, NC United States | 02/16/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Once upon a time there was a scruffy bunch from Cambridge, Massachusetts known as The Jim Kweskin Jug Band. As their name suggests, they were as much a novelty act as a serious folk group, although they were that, too. They featured a singer and guitarist named Geoff Muldaur. They went to New York to play at The Bottom Line, and in the audience was Maria D'Amato, who sang and played fiddle for another jug band, The Even Dozen. She and Geoff hit it off, and the next thing you know they were married.



"Pottery Pie" was their debut album as a duo, and it is hard to imagine a record like this being recorded today, if only because of the totally laid back vibe. The music is actually quite well-arranged, in a loose-limbed sort of way. There is even a raucous horn section that appears on "New Orleans Hop Scop Blues" and a few other tracks. The standout player on the session is Amos Garrett, he of the fluid Telecaster. His solo on "Georgia On My Mind" is a showstopper.



The music combines elements of folk, country, spirituals (check out Maria's a cappella turn on "Guide Me O Great Jehovah"), and New Orleans marching bands, and such gems as "Brazil" simply defy description.



PS: If you decide to fork out for this expensive Japanese version, then you might as well go ahead and pick up "Sweet Potatoes" also, which is simply more of the same--I mean that in the best possible way.



You may have heard "Brazil": It's on the soundtrack of Terry Gilliam's film of the same name."

Why is this only available from Japan?

Jeffrey Silva | Rhode Island USA | 07/04/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Geoff Muldaur has always (he continues to do so today) exhibited a stunning sense of musical taste, & is one of the the best Americana singers (for want of a better word to describe the blues-folk-traditional-jazz styles he works with) on the planet. Maria has a lovely style of her own, with a grand sense of phrasing, tonality & a fine ear for period styles. This is, as noted, one of a pair of fantastic post-Kweskin, pre-split duo albums. It is a crying shame (but hardly a surprise, given the tone-deaf and talent blind nature of big music business) that this & Sweet Potatoes have not been re-issued by the major labels. They are fantastic examples of the best that vernacular music can be & superior music to most of the dross that finds its way into Walmart and onto the airwaves. (This review refers to the the analog versions of these albums. They are worth more than the going price of the Japanese pressings, but not when you already own the vinyl.)"