Nicki Bluhm
California native Nicki Bluhm is a singer, songwriter and performer. In 2008 Bluhm released her first album, Toby’s Song and with its release put together her band The Gramblers. Nicki went on to release her second effort Driftwood (2012) establishing her and the band as a nationally touring act. While playing shows around the country she and the band decided to pass the time and long drives filming what became their viral “Van Sessions” covering nostalgic songs of their past. In the aftermath, Bluhm and The Gramblers became headliners, touring constantly throughout North America, including festivals like Bonnaroo, Outside Lands, Newport Folk and Telluride Bluegrass.
The band continued to record and put out two albums including their self titled Nicki Bluhm and The Gramblers (2013) and their most recent effort Loved Wild Lost (2015), launching them on an extended US tour and their debut European tour. The Chicago Tribune wrote “Nicki has filled a void in music with her brand of vintage-tinged rocking country soul – music that’s like an enchanting friend you’ve known for a short while, but feels like you’ve known forever.”
At the completion of their 2016 Loved Wild Lost tour, Nicki was asked to join the The Infamous Stringdusters in support of their album Ladies and Gentlemen. That project led to a collaboration with Ryan Adams at Telluride Bluegrass, Newport Folk and on Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show. Nicki has also had the honor of singing with musicians including Warren Haynes and Gov’t Mule, Karl Denson, Boz Scaggs, Anders Osborne, Bonnie Raitt, Phil Lesh, Jackie Green, and many others.
Read MoreIn early 2017, inspired by the current US political climate, Nicki wrote a song called “Remember Love Wins”. She recorded and released it, with an accompanying video, in a seven-day burst of creative energy. It received a nod from Rolling Stone saying: “‘Remember Love Wins’, like Pete Seeger singing ‘We Shall Overcome,’ hits not just on the struggle ahead, but our ability to eventually come out on the right side of history.” Most recently, Nicki was the voice of Sarah on the tender duet “No Wrong Way Home” in the short animated film Pearl, which was nominated for an Oscar.
Nicki’s future holds new songs, recordings and many more performances as a solo performer, as a guest vocalist and with The Gramblers. Both on record and in her live performances, she will continue to explore new directions, touching her listeners with her smoky vocals and dynamic stage presence.
Stay tuned for the next chapter …
Dirty Dozen Brass Band
Celebrating 40 years since their founding in 1977, New Orleans-based Dirty Dozen Brass Band has taken the traditional foundation of brass band music and incorporated it into a blend of genres including Bebop Jazz, Funk and R&B/Soul. This unique sound, described by the band as a musical gumbo has allowed the Dirty Dozen to tour across 5 continents and 30 countries, record 12 studio albums and collaborate with a range of artists from Modest Mouse to Widespread Panic to Norah Jones. Forty years later, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band is a world famous music machine whose name is synonymous with genre-bending romps and high-octane performances.
History of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band
In 1977, The Dirty Dozen Social and Pleasure Club in New Orleans began showcasing a traditional Crescent City brass band. It was a joining of two proud, but antiquated, traditions at the time: social and pleasure clubs dated back over a century to a time when black southerners could rarely afford life insurance, and the clubs would provide proper funeral arrangements. Brass bands, early predecessors of jazz as we know it, would often follow the funeral procession playing somber dirges, then once the family of the deceased was out of earshot, burst into jubilant dance tunes as casual onlookers danced in the streets. By the late ’70s, few of either existed. The Dirty Dozen Social and Pleasure Club decided to assemble this group as a house band, and over the course of these early gigs, the seven-member ensemble adopted the venue’s name: The Dirty Dozen Brass Band.
