PORT ANGELES — With pleasure, she drew a parallel.
Maria Muldaur’s musical education, she observed, follows the path of American roots music. From country blues and gospel to folk and rock and jazz, she’s been there and lived to tell about it all — which Muldaur will do this Tuesday and Wednesday night in Port Angeles.
With her multimedia show titled “Way Past Midnight,” the singer will take her listeners through the decades since her sultry hit, “Midnight at the Oasis,” brought her fame.
Muldaur, who celebrates her 72nd birthday this Saturday, will come to Studio Bob, the downtown event space, for two concerts in the Juan de Fuca Foundation for the Arts’ Living Room Series. These are an alternative to the high-school auditorium shows on the Juan de Fuca calendar, and they suit the singer fine.
“Big and small, we play them all,” she said in an interview from her home in Mill Valley, Calif. Of relatively snug venues such as Studio Bob, she added: “I find those are the most soulful places to play,” compared with the glitzy ones.
Muldaur epitomizes gusto. She’s been touring since her 20s, has put out scores of albums and always — always —relishes playing what she and the band call “the big three.”
They’re her best-known: “Midnight at the Oasis,” “Don’t You Feel My Leg” and “It Ain’t the Meat, It’s the Motion.”
During such songs, she catches the looks on people’s faces. Couples who remember hearing those songs for the first time might nudge each other and smile, she said, and “it’s always a great delight to me to see people being moved by the music. And if they’re getting up and dancing, they’re voting with their feet.”
Into the “Way Past Midnight” show, Muldaur mixes anecdotes about her friendships with other musicians: Bob Dylan, Taj Mahal, John Sebastian, Bonnie Raitt and Janis Joplin among them. There are also videos and photographs from the many stages of her career, including the shot of her on a camel from Rolling Stone magazine.
As those who saw last fall’s performance in Port Townsend know, Muldaur doesn’t just stroll down memory lane. She’s switched up her Red Hot Bluesiana Band a bit, with guitarist Chris Adkins and drummer Chris Ross joining her longtime pianist-bassist Chris Burns.
“These new guys are just blowing my mind,” she said.
Together with the guys, Muldaur belts out a full set, with songs such as “Somebody Was Watching Over Me” in there along with some Memphis Minnie blues numbers.
How does she do it?
“I swim a mile a day, even on the road,” Muldaur said before asking where the pool is in Port Angeles.
“I go in any pool I can find . . . I keep myself in great shape, physically and spiritually. I kind of meditate and pray and come up with creative ideas” in the water.
Then there’s the triple espresso she tosses back before the show.
“I’ll sleep when I’m dead,” she quipped.
“In the meantime, I’m here to make great music.”
