The Duende Years

Maria Woodford

The Duende Years is a time capsule, a reckoning, and a homecoming.

This collection gathers songs written and recorded during a formative era of Maria's life—years shaped by relentless creativity, emotional intensity, and Read more

The Duende Years is a time capsule, a reckoning, and a homecoming.

This collection gathers songs written and recorded during a formative era of Maria's life—years shaped by relentless creativity, emotional intensity, and a devotion to truth-telling through music. Much of this work was created during my former project Duende: Maria Woodford & Alex Radus, a collaboration rooted in instinct, urgency, and deep musical trust.

The recordings in this release span studio demos, unreleased raw and alternative versions, and live performances of previously recorded songs—captured in moments where polish mattered less than presence. These are not revisions meant to improve the work; they are parallel truths. Different nights. Different rooms. Different emotional weather.

Influenced by folk, blues, early antifolk, and the underground singer-songwriter movement of the 1990s, these recordings capture a voice in motion—sometimes rough, sometimes luminous, always honest. The songs live in the space between beauty and discomfort, intimacy and defiance, humor and ache. You can hear the air in the room, the breath before a line, the risk of the moment.

For a long time, this body of work lived quietly in the background—unfinished business, unfinished grief, unfinished joy. Releasing The Duende Years now is an act of integration: honoring who I was, reclaiming what was never lost, and offering these songs exactly as they are—alive, flawed, and still breathing.

This record is for anyone who has ever made something because they had to, for anyone who disappeared for a while and came back louder, for anyone who believes music can cradle a life.

Listen up

Bad Dog Blues

Maria Woodford

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A gritty, soul-stirring tribute to blues in its rawest form, Bad Dog Blues is Maria Woodford’s unapologetically powerful 2012 album. Rooted in raw emotion and steeped in tradition, the album blends sultry vocals with Read more

A gritty, soul-stirring tribute to blues in its rawest form, Bad Dog Blues is Maria Woodford’s unapologetically powerful 2012 album. Rooted in raw emotion and steeped in tradition, the album blends sultry vocals with fierce vulnerability, honoring the heart of blues while creating a space all her own in a genre that embodies the art of transmuting pain into passion.

At the center of the record is the unforgettable title track, “Bad Dog Blues,” featuring Phil Wiggins, National Heritage Fellow and one of the most celebrated blues harmonica players of our time. Phil’s driving, soulful playing adds a depth and authenticity that elevates the track—and the entire album—into blues history.

But Bad Dog Blues doesn’t stop there.

Among its 11 tracks is Maria’s stirring rendition of Nina Simone’s “Do I Move You?”—a cover so deeply felt that it caught the attention of Nina Simone’s daughter. After hearing Maria’s take, she granted her the rights to release it, saying:

“You understand this song the way my mother meant it to be understood.”

Maria was the first of only two artists ever permitted to cover "Do I Move You" formally.

Bad Dog Blues is a love letter to authenticity, to pain transmuted through art, to grit with grace. It’s where lust meets loneliness, where memory meets movement, and where every track begs the question:

“Do I move you?”

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    Fumblin' With the Blues 3:22
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    Way Behind the Sun 3:32
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    Bad Dog Blues 5:10
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    Do I Move You 4:07
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    Going Away Party 4:43
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    Give It Up 4:01
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    False Teeth 2:22
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    Sugar In My Bowl 3:57
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    Tinsel Town 4:30
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    Ball and Chain 6:18
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    Nobody's Fault 3:14
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