Here's the latest from Maria and Oasis Productions:
- What People are saying about Maria Muldaur's new album- 'Heart of Mine: The Love Songs of Bob Dylan"
- San Francisco Chronicle
“Muldaur emerges as a sublimely original interpreter of a dozen Dylan tunes on “Heart of Mine.” With fewer fissures in her raspy contralto than Dylan has in his weatherworn tenor, she finds melodic contours in such numbers as “Buckets of Rain” and “Make You Feel My Love” that were never before so apparent. Melismas flow from Muldaur's lips like smooth whisky as she rhythmically reinvents some songs, swinging “Moonlight” and giving a reggae touch to “Lay, Lady Lay” (rendered as “Lay Baby Lay”) and Cajun spice to “You Ain't Goin' Nowhere.”
- Daniel Gewertz, BostonHearld.com
Interpreting the love songs of Bob Dylan, Maria has accomplished what no one else has even tried: She makes Dylan seem like a normal guy. Focusing on his more playful fare, Maria flirts on saucy ditties as old as “Bucket's of Rain” and as new as “Moonlight.” …her sly, winking sensuality often works wonders.
- The Weekly Planet, ABC Radio National
dream project as long overdue....'if you sometimes forget that beneath his many masks, some of them so savagely bitter, there's also just a wonderfully tender balladeer in Dylan, this album will gently remind you. The playing is as lovely as the singing, most especially from guitarists Cranston Clements, Danny Caron and Amos Garrett.
- Album.mab-x-music.com
“Great” Maria in fine voice. Nicely swinging and excellent interpretations. She makes these songs her own. Just an outstanding album, like her other albums, this is music for lovers.
- Philadelphia Daily News
Maria Muldaur also has a new set out today, the charming “Heart of Mine-Love Songs of Bob Dylan” (Telarc, A-). M.M. wraps her languid, liquidy, sleepy-time-down-South pipes around Mr. D's most quaint, countrified testimonials - “Lay Lady Lay,” “Make You Feel My Love,” “You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go,” and “I'll Be Your Baby Tonight.”…this is a set that you can enjoy and exploit in all kinds of emotional weather.
- Album.mab-x-music.com
“Every Now and Then It Happens” …these songs have been given a new life on this disk… “Buckets of Rain” is the standout here.. the way she sings it is irresistible, languid, and lonesome. All the other tracks are simply magical. But what has really caught my ear is the instrumentals. Unbelievable assembly of great players give this whole CD a feel of authenticity. Another wonderful surprise is that Maria produced this CD in conjunction with Joel Jaffee. I could go on with the praise but suffice to say…if you are anywhere near a Dylan or Blues fan buy this CD. You won't be sorry.”
- Neverendingrainbow.blog.com, Posted by Michael K. Willis
…This notion of combining Maria's smokey…sweet, husky, and downright sexy…pipes with Bob Dylan's poignant, poetic, heartfelt love songs was an inspired one…and it pays off grandly on this delightful little collection. With the able backing of a crack band, Maria puts a bluesy spin on Dylan tunes from different eras…some (a softly-sassy reading of “I'll Be Your Baby Tonight,” a sultry “Lay Lady Lay” [recast here as “Lay Baby Lay”], a soulful twist on the oft-covered “You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go') perhaps a bit more familiar than others (“Golden Loom”, “To Be Alone With You”)…and makes them smolder, sizzle, lope, swing, and soar with masterful aplomb. When the celebratory “You Ain't Going Nowhere”…with Muldaur playing some tasty fiddle…ends you are surprised at how quickly 49 minutes have passed. Heart of Mine is a very worthy addition to the expansive body of Bob Dylan covers that have been recorded over the years.
- BluesCritic.Com, Dylann DeAnna
1/2 …Maria Muldaur is a great singer and has a beautiful voice-a disparate instrument with both childlike charm and enough whisky weathered weariness to keep it Bluesy. For “Heart of Mine”: Maria Muldaur Sings the Love Songs of bob Dylan” she's created some of the best Dylan covers to date….fitting them with Bluesy, Folksy and Jazzy backdrops that nearly turns them into new songs… “Heart of Mine” is simply heart-wrenching with an absolutely flawless vocal full of vulnerability and ache…”Make You Feel My Love” Molder's restrained reading here is the definitive version to date. It's pretty, but bittersweet enough…this CD works.
- www.Giantmag.com
“Maria Full of Soul”
- Kay Cordtz
“The charming Heart of Mine puts her sensuous, dreamy voice and hard-won experience to work on 12 love songs by Bob Dylan. With help for some “A-list” musicians, Muldaur delivers the poetry of the lyrics without ignoring the beauty of the melodies in songs like the sublime “Make You Feel My Love,” which features a gorgeous guitar solo by Cranston Clements. She covers the familiar-- “Lay, Lady, Lay” becomes “Lay, Baby, Lay,” and except for alliteration, nothing is lost---and the obscure. Dylan's impressionistic lyrics on “Golden Loom” are boosted by the sparkling piano of David Torkanowsky, who plays throughout the record. Muldaur treats Dylan's words with reverence on “Moonlight” and “I'll Be Your Baby Tonight,” featuring lead guitar from Amos Garrett. Though Muldaur rearranges the order of a few lines in the emotionally rich “Wedding Song,” only the most rabid purists will object, particularly in the light of the swirling, spooky violin and E-bow guitar accompaniment. The Cajun swing take on “You Ain't Goin' Nowhere” features Muldaur and Suzy Thompson on joyous fiddle and accordion and Maxine Gerber on banjo…Listeners will be grateful for this lovely collection…
- San Francisco Chronicle, Lee Hildebrand
Maria Muldaur and Bob Dylan were contempories on the Greenwich Village coffeehouse circuit in the early '60s. Now living in Marin County, Muldaur emerges as a sublimely original interpreter of a dozen Dylan tunes on “Heart of Mine.” With fewer fissures in her raspy contralto than Dylan has in his weatherworn tenor, she finds melodic contours in such numbers as “Buckets of Rain” and “Make You Feel My Love” that were never before so apparent. Melismas flow from Muldaur's lips like smooth whisky as she rhythmically reinvents some songs, swinging “Moonlight” and giving a reggae touch to “Lay Lady Lay” (rendered as “Lay Baby Lay”) and Cajun spice to “You Ain't Goin' Nowhere.” Others get a New Orleans twist, thanks to pianist David Torkanowsky, and guitars Cranston Clements, Danny Caron and Amos Garrett all contribute superb solos.
- Amazon.com, Alanna Nash, Editorial Reviews
”Wedding Song” and “Make You Feel My Love,” which she renders so tenderly as to elicit a tear…she eschews Dylan's urgent and poignant sexuality for sensuality, making both songs a study in how the sexes approach the chemistry of love.”
- Album.mab-x-music.com
Perfect voice for these songs” I have really been looking forward to this one, and it doesn't disappoint. Maria's past Dylan covers have always been favorites. She of course was a contemporary of Bob in the Greenwich Village coffeehouse circuit. Her sultry, bluesy vocals are perfect for this material.
- UrbanBoomer.com, Dann Cotter
…SO many artists have covered and payed tribute to his music that another album of Dylan covers might go unnoticed…,but Maria Muldaur has done something special here and done it well. A friend and fellow struggling musician from the early Greenwich Village coffeehouse circuit, Maria has put her own breezy and sensual spin on a dozen of Dylan's more romantic offerings and pretty much made them their own. Her voice brings a childlike quality as well as a whisky worn weariness to the countrified twang of “Buckets of Rain”…and the Cajun feel of “On A Night Like This” is like a stroll down Bourbon Street. But it is on the title track “Heart of Mine” and on the brilliant “Make You Feel My Love” that Ms. Muldaur brings it all home in what is an outstanding new CD and I gotta believe even old Bob's gotta think it sounds pretty good.
- Montreal Gazette
1/2 Muldaur wraps her gorgeous voice around a dozen of Dylan's prettiest songs and, just like Dylan's often done, she's revitalizes many of them with new combinations of instruments and genre interpretation.
- Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
1/2 Recommended …while other artists from Joan Baez to Judy Collins have cut entire albums of Dylan's tunes, none of them feels quite like this one. Muldaur, a fine blues and jazz singer, has taken the songs from Dylan's romantic canon and has fashioned them in her own image without losing their original bite, wonder and humor. Accompanied by her road band and a slew of guests that include Amos Garrett, Danny Caron, Suzy Thompson, she has created a dreamy, languid, memorable song cycle… a jazz groove on “Lay Lady Lay,”…and she transforms the tune and perhaps offers a definitive version. The blues return on “To Be Alone With You,” and delivers a wrenching version of “Heart of Mine.” The other stellar cuts here are the poignant “Make You Feel My Love,” and the funky jazz version of “You're Gonna Make Me Miss You When You Go,” that sounds like it could have been produced by Allen Toussaint as does “I'll BE Your Baby Tonight.”
- Tuscaloosa News, Ben Windham, Editorial Editor
…The loose-limbed funkiness in the music, its pleasant seasoning of jazz…Muldaur's own relaxed but saucy, sometimes sassy, vocals all have a New Orleans underpinning…the tracks…sizzle with real emotional heat…Nothing is better than her absolutely beautiful cover of “Moonlight.” One of Muldaur's best recordings… “To Make You Feel My Love”…her minimalist performance perfectly compliments the song, almost painful in its naked sentiment.
- Imeem.com, Julia B. Gordon
Maria Full of Soul Maria's album “Heart of Mine” will make a great gift to Bob Dylan fans everywhere. As a total package, Maria's voice lends incredible smoky quality to the material, rendering an intimacy that's rare in albums at all these days. Her rendition of “Lay Baby Lay” is wonderfully romantic and sexy. During “Moonlight,” you'll feel transported to a dark bar in downtown Manhattan with comfy red leather booths---you'll want to grab for a cigarette and scotch even if you don't smoke or drink scotch…the music is beautiful---and it's undeniable that the album and Muldaur's voice are fantastic. Make sure you give it a listen.
- The Montreal Gazette, Mike Rengstreif
1/2 Maria Muldaur, Heart of Mine: Love Songs of Bob Dylan (Telarc/Universal) Muldaur wraps her gorgeous voice around a dozen of Dylan's prettiest songs and, just like Dylan's often done, she's revitalizing many of them with new combinations and genre interpretation.
- Pacific Sun Magazine, Matt Kramer
For The Love of Bob. Absolutely Sweet Maria. Music: Maria Does Dylan. Muldaur's new CD covers ballads of a thin man Count me among the critics who like and love many songs that Dylan has written, but have never warmed to the man's voice…Muldaur…focuses solely on the man's love songs… Bless Muldaur's sweet lovin' ol' soul for her ability too perceive and pinpoint the passion and the romantic longing in the music of a friend more noted for social commentary and criticism….Muldaur masterfully demonstrating the aching and longing of “Make You Feel My Love.” Heart of Mine includes many moods and genres, including electric blues, R&B and even a Gypsy jazz number on which a bit of Billie Holiday can be heard in Muldaur's voice. The disc blends several styles smoothly…It shuffles, it swings, and all the while Muldaur sings. The final track, Cajun-tinged “You Ain't Going Nowhere,” is my favorite. Maria picks up her fiddle and Suzy Thompson joins in on fiddle and accordion. The song's tones of unabashed happiness are so joyful that I'd really like to hear more of this.
- Maria on your cell phone!
Hey, why not hear Maria every time your cell phone rings? If you have Cingular Wireless just go to their site at www.cingular.com and click on "ringtones." Then enter Maria's name, and you can select "Mignight At The Oasis" as your tone!
