Bay Area songwriter Nicki Bluhm returns to Felton Music Hall – Santa Cruz Sentinel

Nicki Bluhm is no stranger to Bay Area audiences, but it’s been a minute since we’ve had a chance to see her play locally. The self-described “road warrior” moved from California to Nashville in 2018. This Friday, she’s bringing a full band of Nashville ringers and songs from her latest record, “Rancho Deluxe,” to Felton Music Hall.

The Sentinel recently caught up with Bluhm to chat about her move to Music City and the big show she has planned for us this Friday night.

“Moving to Nashville was definitely a leap of faith,” Bluhm said. “I started coming out on writing trips.” At the time, she was based in San Francisco. “My manager was encouraging me to come Nashville and do co-writes (with other artists).”

Side note: Co-writing is a great way to connect with members of the music community no matter where you are. And when have the opportunity to co-write with musicians of a Nashville caliber, you get new material at a pretty good pace. You also forge new friendships with like-minded people.

“When I came out here in the spring,” she said, “it was beautiful. All the dogwoods were blooming. The birds were singing, and I fell in love with the area. I came back a couple more times, and then I just decided I was going to move. I literally turned around, got my stuff and did not overthink it at all. It was a very spontaneous decision.”

She knew lots of people there already, so she figured she’d settle right in. But it took her awhile to find her way. “When I moved here, it was lot lonelier than I expected. Everybody I knew was also a working musician, and they were out touring. It was hard to get schedules to align.” But she constantly reminded herself, “Anything worth anything is not going to be easy to get.”

She continued, “It took time to find people, especially in a place like Nashville where everybody’s doing the same thing. But now that I’ve been here awhile and I’ve found my people, it feels like a very inclusive place.”

Bluhm already had a decade of recording and touring under her belt when she moved, so she just kept working. Her influences and music sensibilities were a good fit for the town: “I grew up in the ’80s,” she said, “so pop radio was a big influence; singers like Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey and the dexterity in their voices, that was one of the first things that took me by my heart strings.”

Country radio in the ‘90s also drew her in. “I loved people like Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, then I went backward to Merle Haggard and all the Bakersfield guys, then started to go backwards further. I got my first record player and started buying $1 records.”

This California run for Bluhm is a short one. She’s only doing one show in Mill Valley in addition to the local gig at Felton Music Hall on Friday. And she’s bringing a band of Nashville pros.

“I have put together a really great band for this. Living here for eight years now I’ve met so many people and musicians. The people I’m bringing out are some of my best friends and some of the best musicians in town. They’re also producers in their own right. They’re also all studio guys, so they don’t do a lot of touring. They’re very excited to be coming to the West Coast!”

Michael Gaither is a performing songwriter, radio DJ and the music writer for The Santa Cruz Sentinel.