TIM BLUHM
Rock/folk/Americana
9 p.m. Saturday, April 6
Harlow’s
It doesn’t take a deep journey into the newly-released “Sorta Surviving” to immediately understand why Tim Bluhm recorded these songs as a solo offering, rather than folding them into the fray of beloved “California soul” rock act Mother Hips, which he fronts. There’s no shortage of love for the Golden State here, but the record finds Bluhm eschewing the Hips’ electric power pop and unfurling his inner love for that dust-laden Merle Haggard-inspired Bakersfield sound, rife with piano and sonorous steel guitar. He closes the album with the sneakily intense “Kern River” and romping down a twanging trail of classic backbar country along the way to its banks. The Coffis Brothers open. Doors 8 p.m. $18 adv./$20 door. www.harlows.com.