Olga Wilhelmine Munding | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Olga Wilhelmine Munding |
| Born | October 18, 1976 San Francisco, California, United States |
| Genres | Blues, country, pop |
| Occupation(s) | Actress, producer, singer |
| Years active | 1990–present (actress) 1996–present (singer) |
| Labels | 219 Records |
| Website | www |
Olga Wilhelmine Munding (born October 18, 1976) is an American New Orleans-based blues musician, producer and actress. [1]
Munding was classically trained in music as a child. She went to the Nueva School for gifted children in Hillsborough, California, where she received a Yehudi Menuhin scholarship in classical piano, violin and music composition. She went into public school when her parents divorced and that began a long spiral downwards into "the blues", which finally culminated into hitting rock bottom with her divorce many years from Clarksdale-based Squirrel Nut Zippers musician James "Jimbo" Mathus. She studied drama and musical theater at San Mateo Performing Arts Center in San Mateo, CA, and Judy Berlin's, Kids on Camera in San Francisco.
In college, she lived in Boulder, CO and hosted multiple radio shows [2] at KGNU and produced a syndicated college show called Joes Blue Plate Special which aired on over 200 college stations and had a sponsorship with Doc Martin's. At the radio station, she hosted six regular local radio shows on KGNU Boulder/Denver CO, as well as ran the Community Calendar. In 2000, she was voted "the most alluring voice on the front range" by Best Of Boulder, Boulder Weekly newspaper. [3]
Munding is a blues vocalist and guitar player known for her sultry voice and Southern sound, performing and recording under the singular name Olga™. Munding first took interest in the blues, when she was in high school. [4] She developed her signature style through an extended tutelage under the pioneering female blues musician Jessie Mae Hemphill. [5] Munding and Hemphill recorded together extensively and participated together in Martin Scorsese’s The Blues . [6]
Munding has released five albums on her label 219 Records, Now Is The Time, North Mississippi Christmas, Whatever You Want, Kiss Your Blues Away, and Blues Babe. [6] [7] In 2011, she released her fourth album "Whatever You Want", [8] which was written with Cody Dickinson of the Grammy-nominated North Mississippi Allstars and mixed and produced by Emmy winning producer Winn McElroy. [9] [10]
She has played with Chris Isaak, Los Lobos, North Mississippi Allstars and co-engineered the Grammy nominated song, "Monkey to Man" by Elvis Costello. [6] [11] [12]
She is also the founder and president of the Jessie Mae Hemphill Foundation, which honors the legendary and influential musician who served as her mentor and friend. [13] [14] [15] The foundation supports, preserves, and archives the indigenous music of northern Mississippi and provides assistance for musicians in need from the region who could not survive on meager publishing royalties. This gained prominence in 2008 when Munding fought publicly with a popular musician Cat Power who has used but not credited a Hemphill song on one of her albums. [16] On August 16, 2011, Munding was elected to the Blues Foundation's Board of Directors. [17]
On February 3, 2012, Munding in association with the Jessie Mae Hemphill Foundation organized the “Hill Country Blues Celebration” in Como, Mississippi to celebrate the “Repatriation of Como, Mississippi Recordings, Photographs and Videos from the Alan Lomax Collection” and the loan of the Hill Country Blues Photography Collection from the Jessie Mae Hemphill (JMH) Foundation to the Emily Jones Pointer Library. [18] [19] Alan Lomax was an American folklorist and ethnomusicologist who traveled throughout the United States, Europe and the Caribbeans as part of his quest to record previously unrecorded and often overlooked folk music. Lomax visited the Como area during the 1950s and again in the 1970s. His recordings, photographs, and film from his time in Como comprise the collection presented to Como's Emily Jones Pointer Library. [19] Lomax's recordings, film and photos are in the process of digitization and wider availability online. [20]
She released her fifth album, a Christmas EP in 2012 called North Mississippi Christmas. [21]
She has appeared in numerous television shows and movies. She acted, and co-produced in the short film, The Statue which not only screened in 36 different film festivals, it won the New Orleans Film Festival in 2010., [22] and producing the Jessie Mae Hemphill & Friends documentary,"Dare You Do It Again". In 2016, Munding began audiobook narration. [23]
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Statue | Actress (Girl Musician) | Short film |
| The Somnambulist | Actress (Nurse) | Thriller | |
| Red | Mary Louise Parker photo double | Action/ Comedy/ Crime | |
| 2011 | Cutoff, LA | Actress (Alice) | Short/ Drama |
| 2012 | Django Unchained [24] | Stand-in / violinist | Western |
| The Courier | Actress (Doctor) | Action/ Crime/ Thriller | |
| 2013 | Dawn of the Planet of the Apes | Stand-in | Action/ Fantasy |
| 2014 | Gone | Actress (Mysterious Traveller) | Short, Mystery |
| Devil's Due | Actress (Violinist) | Horror | |
| 13 Sins | Actress (Pianist) | Horror/ Thriller | |
| Bad Country | Actress (Waitress) | Crime/ Drama | |
| 2015 | Bullets at the Ballet | Actress (Mdme. Krakatov) | Action, Short film |
| Paranormal Abduction | Actress (Nurse) | Thriller | |
| Bad Ass 3: Bad Asses on the Bayou | Actress (Violinist) | Action, Drama | |
| Focus | Actress (Nicky's Crew) | Comedy, Crime, Drama | |
| Runaway Hearts | Actress (Drug Buyer 2) | Drama, Family | |
| 2016 | 10 Cloverfield Lane | Stunt and photo double for Mary Elizabeth Winstead | Thriller |
| 2017 | Vore | Nina (lead) | Drama |
| 2020 | Night Teeth | Stunts | Netflix drama |
| 2023 | The Boogeyman | Stunt double for Marin Ireland | Thriller |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Treme | Actress (Mardi Gras Muse) | 1 episode |
| 2015 | Scream Queens | Actress and Stunts (Lady Red Devil) | 4 episodes |
| 2016 | Salem | Actress and Stunts (Female Refugee) | 1 episode |
| 2018 | NCIS: New Orleans | Actress (Helo EMT) | 1 episode |
| 2021 | Blood Relative | Stunt double for Melissa Leo | pilot |
| 2022 | Leverage: Redemption S2 | Stunt double for Jackie Goldston and Taylor Shurte | 2 episodes |
| 2023 | Secrets of Sulphur Springs | Stunt double for Kelly Frye | 1 episode |
Best Original Song 2012 ("Loving You is All I Know" from Statue) at Treasure Coast International Film Festival. [28]
Best Film, for movie Statue at Brainwash Film Festival in 2012 [29]
Best of the Fest, for Statue at Short Sweet Film Fest in 2013 [30]
Best Louisiana Film, for Vore at New Orleans Horror Film Festival 2017 [31]
In August 2015, Munding was elected as Local Board Member (New Orleans) of Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and elected in 2019 to the National Board. [32] From 2011-2014, she served on the Blues Foundation's Board of Directors.
In the summer of 2020, Olga began a quest to search for fellow performers' unclaimed residuals held in trust by SAG-AFTRA [33] by using social media to assist in searching for performers or their estates to locate them. [34]
Como is a town in Panola County, Mississippi, which borders the Mississippi Delta and is in the northern part of the state, known as hill country. The population was 1,279 as of the 2010 census.
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Fred McDowell, known by his stage name Mississippi Fred McDowell, was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist.
R. L. Burnside was an American blues singer, songwriter and guitarist. He played music for much of his life but received little recognition before the early 1990s. In the latter half of that decade, Burnside recorded and toured with Jon Spencer, garnering crossover appeal and introducing his music to a new fan base in the punk and garage rock scenes.
Jessie Mae Hemphill was an American electric guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist specializing in the North Mississippi hill country blues traditions of her family and regional heritage.
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