©Jay Blakesberg
8:00 PM, Doors at 7:30 PM
$22/$12 students
“There’s nothing like going to the source of your inspiration to really understand its intricacies. Californian Tim Bluhm, of The Mother Hips, did just that when he decided to do a country music album. The result is a record a lot of people in Nashville just wish they could do.” —Twangville
Tim Bluhm began his musical journey while studying at Chico State, where he co-founded the now-iconic Mother Hips, a group the San Francisco Chronicle has hailed as “one of the Bay Area’s most beloved live outfits.” Over the ensuing two-and-a-half decades, Bluhm released nine studio albums with the band as they cemented their status as architects of a new breed of California soul, sharing bills with everyone from Johnny Cash and Wilco to Lucinda Williams and The Black Crowes along the way. Rolling Stone called them “divinely inspired,” and The New Yorker lauded their ability to “sing it sweet and play it dirty.”
Ever-curious and wildly prolific, Bluhm simultaneously released a slew of his own solo and collaborative projects on the side. He toured for years as music director with Nicki Bluhm & The Gramblers, and opened up Mission Bells Studio with fellow California favorite Jackie Greene and engineer Dave Simon-Baker. There, Bluhm produced albums for everyone from the Hips and Greene to Hot Buttered Rum and Little Wings in addition to hosting Phil Lesh, Josh Ritter, Rogue Wave, Los Lobos, Jonathan Richman, and more.
In 2015, Bluhm was several injured in a speed flying accident. “For the first three or four months, I couldn’t move,” he remembers. “But as I got used to my new condition, my brain got back to its normal self and I realized I was able to start putting songs together again.” Bluhm signed with Blue Rose Music from his hospital bed, and upon his release, headed into the studio to cut a new record, his first in ten years.
“Sorta Surviving” is the country record he’s always wanted to put out there. Most of his musical life has found Bluhm steeped in old country songs, particularly those that came out of the oil fields of Bakersfield, California back in the 1950’s and 60’s. This latest record is his true homage to those great tunes and his original songs are worthy of taking a prominent place among the greats of the genre.
The Coffis Brothers will be Bluhm’s backing band for this show.