Though it’s long been home to country music, Nashville has, more recently, attracted musicians in a wider variety of genres and become central to the popular music industry. Nicki Bluhm, a Northern California native who moved to Music City six years ago, is as influenced by soul, blues, and R&B as she is by country. A fine vocalist in addition to her songwriting chops, she’s worked in the jam band scene with the Infamous Stringdusters and Phil Lesh of the Grateful Dead.
In her recent appearance at Jammin Java, accompanied by Cam Neal and Kai Welch, Bluhm previewed songs, many of which she was playing in public for the first time, from the album she is releasing later this year.
Bluhm moved to Nashville after her divorce from Tim Bluhm of the Mother Hips. Many of the songs on her upcoming and last couple of albums, she explained, deal the aftermath of that, issues like dating in one’s 30s and 40s after getting out of a long relationship. (I find it better than dating in my 20s because I’m more confident and stable and have a clear idea of who I should be dating.) After her divorce, “I kept making the same mistakes and dating the same type of guys.” She asked her therapist how many of these guys she’d have to go through: “As many as it takes.” Nicki wrote “Love to Spare” with AJ Croce (son of the late Jim Croce), who’d recently been widowed.
Happily, she said, she is now in a healthy stable relationship, and her only toxic relationship — the subject of one of her songs — is with the music industry.
Watch Nicki Bluhm perform “Love to Spare” live for Paste on YouTube:
With her hippie-ish vibe — many of her songs have a classic Laurel Canyon flavor — Nicki is very much a product of California, and she felt she belonged there. Moving to Tennessee was a big change, but she’s found her niche in the Bohemian community of East Nashville, leading her to write a song with Kai “about finding home in a new place.” I can’t relate to this one, having felt more like the out-of-place protagonist in James McMurtry’s “Levelland” when I was growing up in Akron, Ohio. Nor can I relate to “doing things to please other people,” another song topic (written with Cam), probably because I struggle to discern what that would involve.
Bluhm started with “Little Too Late,” and her set also included “Can’t Fool The Fool” and “Wheels Rolling,” as well as a song about “putting yourself in someone else’s shoes” (which I find difficult, because I wear an extra wide) and another tune she put together during the pandemic. Kai and Cam each did one of their songs, and Nicki finished the set with the title track of her 2018 album, To Rise You Gotta Fall. She recorded it with producer Matt Ross-Spang, who interned at the legendary Sun Studios, at Sam Phillips Studios in Memphis.
Local American-rock duo Brian K & The Parkway opened the show. They played some originals, including “American Pharoah,” about the racehorse, and “The Beachcomber” and invited the audience to sing along as they covered the Warren Zevon classic “Mohammed’s Radio.” It’s always good to see local artists get a chance to show off their stuff, and they have some really good songs. Bluhm’s songs, of course, are outstanding, and the stripped-down presentation on Tuesday night really brought out the craft in the lyrics and the sterling qualities of her singing voice. I’m excited to hear her new album when it comes out later this year.
Here are some photos of Nicki Bluhm performing live at Jammin’ Java on June 17, 2025. All pictures copyright and courtesy of Ari Strauss.
