Maria Muldaur

If it weren't for the D.A. Pennebaker footage of Bob Dylan and the Hawks cutting down the "Judas!" tool in No Direction Home, Maria Muldaur might have stolen that documentary. Her frank and funny remembrances of the Greenwich Village scene revealed missing pieces of the folk-and-blues-revival puzzle — like her own work, from the mega-hit "Midnight at the Oasis" to her recent, prolific interpretations (a full album of Dylan's love songs, a trilogy devoted to blues women, voracious surveys of gospel and jazz, and a tribute to Shirley Temple) illuminate the unkempt corners of the American songbook. She's never been a devastating singer, but she consistently proves the power of song when interpreted with warm humor and crystalline soul.