When Maria Muldaur steps onto the stage of the Tarrytown Music Hall for the Sisters in Soul show on March 18, she’ll be bringing a host of great American roots musicians with her. You won’t see them, of course, but you’ll hear them as soon she starts to perform.

Muldaur, who was born and raised in Greenwich Village and came of age during the formative years of the folk boom, has known them all, sung with them all, learned from them all, and passes that wisdom on with every note she sings. She’ll be joined by Marcia Ball and Bettye Lavette, in what promises to be an evening of raw, sophisticated and rootsy American music.

“For me it’s been a long and rambling odyssey through various forms of American roots music,” she said. “It’s been 36 years since my pop hit, “Midnight on the Oasis” and I just counted up and realized I’d put out 36 albums.”

The mix is impressive: country, jazz, blues and funk, and what a sound she calls “bluesianna” – a stew of blues, R&B and New Orleans swamp music. But like a really good gumbo, the blend isn’t just thrown together; it’s been simmering for a long, long time.

In the ‘60s, while Muldaur’s old friend Bob Dylan was leading a revolution for singer-songwriters, the discovery or rediscovery of older rural musicians fueled respect for the heritage of real American folk music. The mix was exhilarating; Muldaur found herself singing with her contemporaries while also sitting at the feet of blues legends like Victoria Spivey and Son House and studying the phrasing, the note-bending and the pure honesty and soul of their delivery.

That led to one of the things that immediately distinguished her from many of her female folk-singing colleagues, who featured a kind delicate purity as part of their performing personas. Muldaur conveyed bluesy, playful sexuality and celebrated mischief. She hung with the best of the Village performers, and soon joined Jim Kweskin and the Jug Band, a joyful aggregation of musicians who made music with instruments both traditional (guitar, fiddle, banjo) and illegitimate (jug, washtub bass, kazoo and washboard), with giddy results. After the band broke up, she found herself at the center of a surprising pop career, with the platinum selling “Midnight on the Oasis.”

“That was a happy accident,” she now says, “and I enjoyed every minute of it.”

For a time, she even toured with the Grateful Dead, opening shows for the band and working as a backup vocalist, making her a part of a legendary event in American music history.

Her reputation as a singer’s singer has led many of her colleagues to want to join her for the pure pleasure it provides. Dr. John, J.J. Cale, Bonnie Raitt, Taj Mahal, Ry Cooder and many others have regularly guested on those 36 albums. Is there a fear of running out of gas?

“Not at all,” she said. “It’s like buds coming out in the spring. Every year I seem to make a record, I tour behind it, I hibernate a little and then some new inspiration or idea hits me, and I get into it and make another record.”

Muldaur has no intention of packing it in any time soon.

“I went out with Bob Dylan recently after we had each played a gig in the Boston area, and I said to him, ‘can you believe we’re still doing this?’ It’s not for the money, certainly not in his case. We must just love what we’re doing, or be crazy. Or maybe both.”