My respect for former tie-dyed folkie Maria Muldaur increased a hundred-fold when she released her finely-crafted Peggy Lee tribute, A Woman Alone With the Blues, last year. Now an ever sharper, sultrier, saltier Muldaur is back with Love Wants to Dance (Telarc). Here we have her down in the Delta with a sizzling octet, stretched out on the bluegrass and sounding like a retro-hip combination of Cyndi Lauper and Susie Arioli. From the saucy “Lies of Handsome Men” and the bubbly, Busby Berkeley-esque “Baby You’re My Destiny” to the torchy “Isn’t That the Thing to Do” and the warmly romantic “Lonely Moon,” this is a Muldaur like you’ve never heard before-simultaneously old and new and full of piquant surprises.
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