Her first solo album, Maria Muldaur, launched in 1973, contained her hit single “Midnight on the Oasis”, which reached quantity 6 on the Billboard Scorching 100 in 1974.

It additionally peaked at quantity 21 on the UK Singles Chart.[6] Later that yr, she launched her second album, Waitress in a Donut Store. This included a re-recording of “I am a Girl”, the Leiber and Stoller quantity first related to Peggy Lee and a standout function from her Jug Band days. The title of this album is taken from a line in one other tune on the album, “Sweetheart”, by Ken Burgan.

Round this time, Muldaur established a relationship with the Grateful Useless. Opening for some Grateful Useless exhibits in the summertime of 1974, with John Kahn, bassist of the Jerry Garcia Band, ultimately earned her a seat in that group as a backing vocalist within the late Nineteen Seventies. Across the similar time, Muldaur met and ultimately collaborated with bluegrass icon Peter Rowan.