Welcome to this week’s Launch Box Featuring:
Nicki Bluhm & The Gramblers
With Loved Wild Lost, Nicki Bluhm & The Gramblers fully affirm a current place in the long winding continuum of the California Sound, born of folk, rock, country, psychedelia, blues, and pop, as ageless, adventurous, and ever-adaptive as the Golden State itself.
The album – which follows their eponymous 2013 debut – sees Nicki Bluhm & The Gramblers teaming with producer Brian Deck (Iron & Wine, Modest Mouse, Josh Ritter), their first time working with an outside collaborator. The richly layered sound forms the ideal foundation for Bluhm’s remarkable voice. Added color is provided by San Francisco’s Magik*Magik Orchestra (Death Cab for Cutie, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, The Walkmen), whose multifarious string arrangements amplify the album’s sound.
Multi-instrumentalist, co-songwriter, and Nicki’s husband, Tim Bluhm is the quintessential Golden State musician. Tim has been known for two decades as singer/guitarist/primary songwriter in beloved SF rock ‘n’ rollers The Mother Hips and as an in-demand producer, session player and collaborator. Tim & Nicki first assembled The Gramblers in 2008 to serve as Nicki’s road band in support of her two Tim-produced solo outings. The line-up soon gelled into its current state, comprising Nicki’s childhood friend, guitarist/songwriter Deren Ney, bassist – and ALO co-founder – Steve Adams, rhythm guitarist Dave Mulligan, and drummer Mike Curry.
It quickly became clear that Nicki Bluhm & The Gramblers was more than a talented singer/songwriter and her backing musicians – they were a band. As such, what was initially planned as Nicki’s third solo record became Nicki Bluhm & The Gramblers’ self-titled debut album. Nicki Bluhm & The Gramblers propelled the band to national attention, earning praise from American Songwriter as “a modest, melodic gem (that) neatly combines the rustic vibe of The Band with the more polished approach of Buckingham/Nicks-era Fleetwood Mac.”
When time came to record a follow-up, The Gramblers decided it would behoove them to work with an outside collaborator. A phone conversation with Brian Deck – a veteran studio hand and founding member of Chicago’s Red Red Meat – affirmed him as a producer that could be trusted to help forward the band’s overall goals.
Take a listen to “Waiting on Love” from the new album.
Loved Wild Lost has the sprawling energy of lives in constant transition, manifested in both its contemplative lyricism and expansive sonic palette. Time spent in the van moves slowly and yet passes in an instant, newlyweds become old married couples, strangers become friends become family, wide-eyed innocents become grizzled veterans of the road.
Can’t mention all that time in the van without flashing back to their Van Sessions – is this not the coolest Hall and Oates cover ever? Check that KAZOO SOLO!
In some ways, Loved Wild Lost can be like listening in on a private conversation between the Bluhms, with all the secrets and truths of their marriage hidden in plain sight.
Nicki Bluhm & The Gramblers are now ready to kick start the cycle once more, with all the infinite roadwork and new experiences that entails. Loved Wild Lost reverberates with invention, passion, and spontaneity, but it is but a milestone on a band’s endless highway.
“As the story of The Gramblers unfolds I get new ideas about the directions it could go,” Tim says. “Every time you go around a corner there’s a new view that shows you something that you haven’t seen. It’s always changing and you have to respond to the feedback the world is giving you.”
“I can’t tell the future,” Nicki Bluhm says. “I just want us to stay open to whatever feels best.”