If you pick up Richland Woman Blues remembering Maria Muldaur's erotic recording of the song with Jim Kweskin's Jug Band, you may be surprised at how her voice has changed, and yet how impossible it is to mistake her for anyone else. She can still negotiate the leaps and slides that seductively shaded the original "Richland Woman Blues" or "Midnight at the Oasis", but her voice is deeper and she commands a rasping growl--characteristics eminently suitable for the blues and gospel songs assembled here. The album's inspiration was a visit to the grave of the great guitar-playing blueswoman Memphis Minnie, and she selects four of her songs, two as conversational duets with Alvin Youngblood Hart and two with the artful guitar of Roy Rogers. Among other collaborators are pianist Dave Mathews, who accompanies her on three Bessie Smith numbers, John Sebastian, playing Mississippi John Hurt's lilting guitar part on the title song, guitarist Ernie Hawkins on the rousing "I Belong To that Band" and, on the magnificent "It's a Blessing", Bonnie Raitt. Only "Far Away Blues", a ponderous duet with Tracy Nelson, risks breaking the listener's connection to a record made with ingenuity and love. --Tony Russell