Maria Muldaur - A Woman Alone With The Blues (...Remembering Peggy Lee) (2003)

From her beginnings in the sixties folk music scene in Boston, Maria Muldaur has continued to explore a range of American musics, first with the Jim Kweskin Jug Band, followed by a pair of albums with then-husband Geoff Muldaur. The '70s brought her commercial success with the release of her debut solo album and the single "Midnight at the Oasis." The '80s found her recording sets devoted to jazz, gospel, and swing, while the '90s albums celebrated her love of New Orleans and blues. A Woman Alone With the Blues is devoted to 12 songs associated with Peggy Lee. From the slow burn of "Fever" to the swinging "Everything Is Moving Too Fast," this is a well-paced set with Muldaur backed by a supple eight-piece combo. Dan Hicks guests on "Winter Weather," trading verses with Muldaur over a snappy big band arrangement. Lee's career drew from a sufficiently diverse and uniformly potent range of songwriters (Ellington, Arlen, Berlin, Leiber & Stoller, etc.) and this album is likewise rich in its breadth. --David Greenberger