Jenni Muldaur

A singer with a rich, evocative voice that's adaptable to pop, rock, soul, blues, jazz, and country styles, Jenni Muldaur had a successful career as a backing vocalist while occasionally stepping forward as a solo artist. The daughter of noted musicians Geoff and Maria Muldaur, Jenni began performing with them in her teens and made her solo debut with a polished, idiosyncratic self-titled pop album in 1992. Although singing with others dominated her time, she periodically recorded her own albums, such as 2009's blues and R&B set Dearest Darlin' and 2023's Once More: Jenni Muldaur & Teddy Thompson Sing the Great Country Duets. Jenni Muldaur was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on March 29, 1965. Her father Geoff was a mainstay of the Boston folk scene, both on his own and as a member of Jim Kweskin & the Jug Band. Geoff met Maria D'Amato when she joined Kweskin's group; they would soon marry, and Geoff & Maria Muldaur recorded a pair of albums together, 1968's Pottery Pie and 1972's Sweet Potatoes. After they divorced, Geoff became a member of Paul Butterfield's Better Days, and Maria launched a solo career, scoring a Top Ten hit with the song "Midnight at the Oasis." Jenni was only ten years old when she sang on her father's 1975 album Is Having a Wonderful Time, and he also brought her in to sing on 1978's Geoff & Amos (a collaboration with guitarist Amos Garrett) and 1979's Blues Boy. In the '80s, Muldaur landed work singing backup for former Romeo Void vocalist Debora Iyall and Todd Rundgren -- it brought her to the attention of Reprise Records, which signed her to a recording contract. Produced by Russ Titleman (who had worked with James Taylor, Brian Wilson, Little Feat, and Paul Simon, among many others), 1992's Jenni Muldaur was a polished pop album with some bluesy accents, and it featured appearances from Donald Fagen, Warren Haynes, and Chuck Leavell. Sales of Jenni Muldaur were modest, and she soon parted ways with Reprise, but the LP cemented her reputation as a gifted and versatile singer, and both on-stage and in the studio she found steady work as a backing vocalist, working alongside everyone from Eric Clapton and Michael McDonald to John Cale and Marianne Faithful. (She'd also sing with her folks on Geoff's 1998 The Secret Handshake and Maria's 1996 Fanning the Flames.) In 1999, she added backing vocals to the album Social Studies by Loudon Wainwright III, who was friends with her parents from their days on the folk scene, and she in turn became a frequent collaborator with his son Rufus Wainwright, first appearing on 2003's Want One. In 2009, Muldaur found the time to complete her second solo album, Dearest Darlin', a soulful collection where she put her spin on a handful of R&B classics, as well as writing one song of her own, "Comatose Town." Joining Muldaur on the sessions as backing vocalist was Teddy Thompson, who like Jenni was also the offspring of folk music royalty, Richard & Linda Thompson. Thompson's appearance saw him returning the favor after appearing on a number of his albums, including 2006's Separate Ways, 2008's A Piece of What You Need, and 2011's Bella. In 2023, Muldaur and Thompson finally shared equal billing on a project when they teamed up to record Once More: Jenni Muldaur & Teddy Thompson Sing the Great Country Duets. True to its title, the set included covers of a dozen C&W classics, including Dolly Parton & Porter Wagoner's "Just Someone I Used to Know," George Jones & Tammy Wynett's "Golden Ring," and Loretta Lynn & Conway Twitty's "After the Fire Is Gone."
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