JFS #100 The Geoff Muldaur Interview….

There was a time in this country when a younger generation chose to buck the realities of linear life and carve their own paths. Legacy paths if you will. This generation had been inundated with Frank Sinatra and Doris Day, and were bored to death.What was resonating inside them was the sounds they were hearing and emulating from the smokey blues players who sung about real life and played acoustic instruments. Everything was in mono.

It's not easy for white folks to comp Blind Lemon Jefferson, Reverend Gary Davis and Shakey Jake. For it to be an authentic emulation this generation had to understand the stories and the regional sophistication of these masters. They had to be eclectic and musicologists in their own way scouring for those obscure LPs at Village Music run by John Goddard

My guest today was part of this generation who set out to learn from these masters and add their own accent. The messages and stories came through in their own cadence with washtub basses, mandolin's, dobro's and pottery pie.

Old folkies like Eric Von Schmidt, Dave Van Ronk and my guest were the precursors to psychedelic electric music. These jug bands were looking to turn back the hands of time. Singing about being sleepy or having been all around this world, performing @ folk city and coffee houses with the likes of Bill Monroe, Tex Logan and other forefathers of traditional American Music.

My guest today is a prolific singer, song writer and multiple instrumentalist. He plays the guitar, organ and saxophone, started his making albums on Prestige Folklore and Reprise and playing with all the heavies. Butterfield, Bobby Charles, Gene Dinwiddie,  Maria D'amato the aforementioned  mentioned Van Ronk, David Grisman and John Kahn Fritz Richmond and Bill Keith.

It's an honor to welcome Geoff Muldaur to the JFS