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I had the wonderful pleasure of befriending legendary singer Maria Muldaur last year during the 2008 presidential primary and through a mutual friend and Obama supporter, Brent Turner and Joel Jaffe of Studio D in Sausalito, CA. 

For those of you who have not heard of Maria, you may have heard of the classic song Midnight at The Oasis, it was she who wrote and sang it in 1973, around the time Lars, Bill, and I were kids using BART to get around.

Last year the Marin County dweller created this cool song, a tribute to then-Senator Barack Obama called "Yes We Can"; I created this video around it for her:



After Obama's presidential win, Maria, now in her 60s but looks to be in her 40s, continued to perform concerts at local venues around the Bay Area. Today, she sent an email annoucing that she's returning to her "Jug Band" roots in her new CD and fall concert tour called "Maria Muldaur and her Garden of Joy". Maria explains:

After years of exploring many different forms of American Roots Music, I recently decided to return to my original roots – Jug Band Music! As some of you may know, I first recorded in the early ‘60’s as a member of both the Even Dozen & the Jim Kweskin Jug Bands. Here, in my “Garden of Joy”, I have reunited with several of my former jug band mates and recorded many tunes from the classic jug band era (late ‘20’s early ‘30’s) as well as two hilarious, newly penned gems by Dan Hicks.

Special guests on the album include John Sebastian, David Grisman, Taj Mahal, Fritz Richmond, Suzy Thompson, my sensational new discovery Kit Stovepipe (who plays absolutely amazing ragtime guitar!), and that illustrious ultimate hipster, Dan Hicks!

Muldaur says the new album is right for the times. "Jug band music," she explains, "which tends to be lighthearted, humorous and zany, emerged out of a period of hard times as a way of lifting people’s spirits."

The concerts start tomorrow Saturday August 29th with a performance in Seaside, California, then at the Mill Valley Fall Arts Festival September 19th. All other dates can be seen at her website MariaMuldaur.com.