Mudlark is American guitarist Leo Kottke's fourth album, his first on a major label (Capitol) and his first to feature other musicians.

Recording started in Los Angeles and later moved to Nashville.

Four of the cuts were recorded at Cinderella Sound, Wayne Moss' garage studio in Nashville.

The song "Room 8" is titled after a neighborhood cat named Room 8 who wandered into a classroom in 1952 at Elysian Heights Elementary School in Echo Park, California and lived at the school each winter, leaving in the summer.

Writing for Allmusic, music critic Jim Esch wrote of the album "A landmark early album, Mudlark increased Kottke's visibility and helped establish his reputation as a homegrown American original.