Omnivore Digs Deep Into the ‘60s Folk Boom

The folks at esteemed archival label Omnivore Recordings have been digging deep into the vaults and, on March 30th, 2018, they’ll be releasing three long out-of-print albums including a pair of LPs from the talented husband and wife duo of Geoff and Maria Muldaur.

Before they married, singer Maria D’Amato and guitarist Geoff Muldaur were both familiar figures on the Greenwich Village folk scene in New York City. Maria performed with artists like Bob Dylan and David Grisman, while Geoff was a founding member of Jim Kweskin & the Jug Band, which Maria later joined and recorded three albums with.

Maria and Geoff got married and, after the Kweskin Jug Band broke up, they recorded two albums for Warner Brothers’ Reprise imprint. Pottery Pie, released in 1968, was recorded by producer Joe Boyd and engineer John Wood, the pair behind several classic albums by British folk-rock institutions Fairport Convention and the Incredible String Band. The album explored the possibilities of the folk-blues genre, featuring covers of songs by Memphis Minnie, Bob Dylan, Eric Von Schmidt, and Son House, including a version of the song “Brazil,” which would later be used as the theme song for filmmaker Terry Gilliam’s movie of the same name.

Four years later, the duo released Sweet Potatoes, a collection similar to their debut album but also featuring the talents of friends like harp wizard Paul Butterfield, guitarist Amos Garrett, pedal steel maestro Bill Keith, and drummer Billy Mundi, among others. Sweet Potatoes also featured cover art by folk music legend Eric Von Schmidt. It would be the last album the two recorded together, with each going on to successful and productive careers.

Writing for All Music Guide, my buddy Eugene Chadbourne says “as a whole, Sweet Potatoes is something of a masterwork, rich and revealing, possessing the contagious enthusiasm of young musicians finding a personal voice in the rich traditions of the past as well as the relaxed sophistication that develops when these players are no longer novices.” Both albums are being released on CD for the first time in the U.S. and include a 7,000-word interview with Geoff and Maria that is spread across the two CDs and represents their first shared interview since 1972.

On March 30th Omnivore will also reissue another obscure gem of the folk-blues era with the release of American Avatar by the Lyman Family and singer Lisa Kindred. A controversial Boston-area folk musician, Mel Lyman formed the Lyman Family, also known as the Fort Hill Community, in a rundown Boston neighborhood in 1966. The urban hippie commune would become a bona fide cult with Lyman taking on his role as “spiritual leader.” The Lyman Family would later become involved with the community underground newspaper Avatar and would record the American Avatar album in 1970.

A blues covers album, American Avatar is notable for talented contributors like Jim Kweskin, Geoff Muldaur, Bruce Langhorne, and Terry Bernhard performing alongside Lyman. Music historian Richie Unterberger, writing All Music Guide, says “it’s rather like a loose late-night backroom get-together of friends running through familiar material. Since these friends are pretty good musicians, it sounds better than a jam session.” American Avatar is also receiving its first CD release from Omnivore Recordings.

Buy the CDs from Amazon.com:
Geoff & Maria Muldaur - Pottery Pie
Geoff & Maria Muldaur - Sweet Potatoes
The Lyman Family with Lisa Kindred - American Avatar

CD Preview: Eric Bibb & JJ Milteau discover Lead Belly’s Gold!

With one foot in the past and his eyes on the horizon, bluesman Eric Bibb is one of the most exciting and innovative artists on the blues scene today. Working with acclaimed French harmonica wizard JJ Milteau, Bibb further fuses blues tradition with a contemporary edge on Lead Belly’s Gold, scheduled for November 6, 2015 release by Stony Plain Records.

Lead Belly’s Gold features eleven live tracks recorded at the legendary Paris jazz club The Sunset, combined with five new studio tracks. Offering both material chosen from the Lead Belly songbook as well as original tunes written by Bibb and Milteau in tribute to the influential bluesman, the pair are backed on Lead Belly’s Gold by guitarist Jerome Browne, bassist Gilles Michel, keyboardist/percussionist Glen Scott, drummer Larry Crockett, and backing singers Big Daddy Wilson and Michael Robinson.

In his day, Lead Belly (born Huddie Ledbetter in 1888 in Louisiana), was known as a “songster,” a musical wanderer who would perform a mix of folk, gospel, blues, and ballads – whatever songs might elicit tips from an appreciative audience. Ledbetter was also a skilled and innovative 12-string guitarist, a role taken on by Browne on the new album. Ledbetter’s ability to take a traditional song and interpret it in a way so as to make it his own is a large part of his legacy, and his artistic influence extends beyond blues music (notably Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee) to folk singers (Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan) to rock ‘n’ roll (Creedence Clearwater Revival, Grateful Dead, the White Stripes – even Nirvana recorded a Lead Belly song).

Lead Belly’s Gold features several classic tunes from the artist’s milieu, including “Midnight Special,” “Good Night Irene,” and “Rock Island Line,” as well as lesser-known Ledbetter gems like “Where Did You Sleep Last Night” and “The House of the Rising Sun.” One of the more intriguing among the new Bibb/Milteau compositions is “Swimmin’ In A River Of Songs.” Writing in the album’s liner notes, Bibb notes, “It’s hard to remember when I first heard Lead Belly’s music because, somehow, he’s always been around. Most likely, I heard recordings of others (The Weavers and Woody Guthrie) singing songs from his huge repertoire before hearing his actual voice…”

Continuing, Bibb adds, “what I hear now, when I listen to Lead Belly’s recordings and YouTube clips, and what I must have sensed when I was a boy, is the man’s personal power and independence. His sound made it clear that he was his own man. The fatalism and resignation that I heard later in the voices of many of my prewar blues heroes was missing in Lead Belly. He was way ahead of his time. The path he cut through a world that conspired to rob him of his humanity, dignity and manhood was a personal triumph that will inspire for generations to come.”

“Lead Belly was a human jukebox,” says Bibb. “He knew hundreds of songs that he’d either heard somewhere and adapted, or written himself. Jean-Jacques and I chose songs from Lead Belly’s vast repertoire that we could make our own. We wanted to pay homage to not only a great musician, but to the rich tradition he embodied. Staying pretty close to his renditions, we had a lot of fun collaborating on these new arrangements.” Check out the video below for a taste of Lead Belly's Gold!

Buy the CD from Amazon.com: Eric Bibb & JJ Milteau's Lead Belly's Gold