Nicki Bluhm and the Gramblers- Shank Hall 6/17/14

photo courtesy of Gigshots by Stephen Bloch

Nicki Bluhm is a singer-songwriter from San Francisco, who, alongside her husband Tim, have been creating country-tinged rock 'n roll for several years.  She and her band, the Gramblers,  came into the mainstream in somewhat of an unlikely way with a series of videos the band created for YouTube called the "Van Sessions," where the band would drive and play covers of famous tunes, putting their own spin on the originals.  One of the tunes, the band's cover of Hall and Oates, "I Can't Go For That," went viral generating more than 2 million hits and introduced Bluhm's soulful, sultry country sound to a more expanded audience.

The "Van Sessions," while clever do not hold a candle to the power of the band's original music.  Drawing heavily from their 2013 self-titled album, Nicki Bluhm and the Gramblers along with older tracks off of Driftwood, Toby's Song, and Duets, along with some unreleased material, Bluhm and her band mates delivered a truly riveting performance at Shank Hall before about 200 fans.

Backed by a very strong group, the Gramblers, Bluhm and company performed a 90 minute set of 70s- inspired country rock, which reminded me a lot of Little Feat material with Shaun Murphy on lead vocals. However, while I had the pleasure of seeing Little Feat fronted by Shaun Murphy on several occasions, to be honest, I think Bluhm's range would blow Murphy, or just about any other front woman out of the water. She is THAT good.  In fact, I cannot think of a current touring performer with a bigger, more dynamic voice than Nicki Bluhm's.  Yes, to say it again, she is THAT good.

Some of the highlights of the set included the band's current single and hit "Little Too Late," a soulful rock number which showcases Bluhm's dynamic range as a front woman.  "Kill You to Call," was another stand out tune, which was more bluesy in nature and featured stellar keyboards by Tim Bluhm.  Bluhm's extraordinary vocals allowed the band to make a bold move in covering Jefferson Airplane's "Somebody to Love" which transformed Shank Hall into the scene from Ben Stiller's 1995 cult favorite, The Cable Guy, with a fan-base ranging from college students to men and women in their sixties grooves and swayed to the track, which sounded as close to in-her-prime Grace Slick could have sounded.   However, above all, the highlight of the show was a foot-stomping country-bluegrass track, "Squeaky Wheel," which featured dueling vocals between Nicki and Tim Bluhm.

Simply put, this show had me and the crowd engaged and then some from the first note on.  If you haven't heard of Nicki Bluhm, please know that you will soon.

photo courtesy of Gigshots by Stephen Bloch

photo courtesy of Gigshots by Stephen Bloch

photo courtesy of Gigshots by Stephen Bloch