Muldaur offers up good-time music for hard times

CONCERT REVIEW

Maria Muldaur and her Garden of Joy jug band played two hours of music from the 1920s and '30s on Wednesday night with lyrics that resonate today.

The CSPS stage that also hearkens back to an earlier age was the perfect venue to showcase the talents of Muldaur and her band, four young men accomplished on everything from banjo, mandolin, guitar and bass to kazoos, tomato cans, silverware, a suitcase, washboard and moonshine jug.

At first glance, you know nothing conventional will come out of this band. The instrumentalists are dressed for either a carnival sideshow or hoedown and sport everything from long, pointy beards and curly facial hair embellishments to a nose ring, stovepipe hat and fedoras. Muldaur kicked up her heels in a long print dress, black blazer and black granny boots.

Nothing slick about a jug band, she says, but she's wrong. Their musicianship was as slick as the occasional whistle that punctuated their traditional tunes.

The concert drew largely from the group's new CD, billed as “good-time music for hard times.” It wasn't hard to make the leap in lyrics from Depression-era financial worries to today's economic woes. And men were apparently as rascally then as they are now when it comes to doin' their women wrong.

Muldaur also spoken often and freely to the 92 people gathered in the intimate venue. We learned about the early days of her career, singing this time of music, as well as historical glimpses into the birth of the blues.

About the only time she stepped out of the traditional music spotlight was at the beginning and end of her show, when she offered up some of her early hits in a “jugification” style. “I'm a Woman (W-O-M-A-N)” and “Don't You Feel My Leg” did just fine given a '30s style tweak and let her strut her droll, lightly salty sense of humor.

Her biggest hit, however, didn't make the concert cut, because she says “Midnight at the Oasis” can't be jugified.

It's hard to be disappointed when the rest of the concert was so fun, drawing hoots, hollers and foot stomps from her enthusiastic listeners. She also graciously met with her fans at intermission and after the show, to sign her new CDs and chat. That added to the homey, comfortable feel of the whole evening.