Muir was raised in Salt Lake City, Utah, and is the descendant of early Mormon pioneers.
His great grandfather, William Smith Muir, served in the Mormon Battalion during the War with Mexico and as a sergeant in the U.S. Army raised the first American flag over San Diego, California.
His descendants used the farm in Bountiful as the nucleus for a shipping and packing business for fresh produce from Utah, Oregon, Idaho, and Nevada.
Muir's maternal grandfather, Samuel Morgan, was the Superintendent of Schools in Davis County, Utah.
Although rooted in an analysis of the social structures of cities and networks of patrons and families, most of his work has engaged the interpretation of meaning through public representations, whether in civic rituals, carnival festivity, or operas.