Daily Republic: Smither, Bluhm to perform at The Palms Playhouse

WINTERS — Country-blues and folk singer, songwriter and guitarist Chris Smither, who first made a splash in the 1960s and early ’70s, stops by the The Palms Playhouse this weekend. The show begins at 8 p.m. Friday.

Smither released “Call Me Lucky,” his 18th album, last year.

Raised in New Orleans, he relocated to Boston in the 1960s during the folk revival.

“As far as the musical influences of the town, I didn’t know anything else,” Smither said to a JazzFest audience a few years ago. “It’s like asking a fish what water’s like. I didn’t understand what sort of things from New Orleans influenced me until I left.”

“Call Me Lucky” combines several strengths in a two-disc release, with Smither covering his own songs from the first disc in re-imagined versions on the second.

Tim Bluhm, of The Mother Hips, plays The Palms Playhouse at 8 p.m. Aug. 2.

Bluhm released his first solo album in 10 years last year, and will bring “Sorta Surviving” to The Palms Playhouse.

The Santa Cruz-based band The Coffis Brothers will serve as Bluhm’s backing band

Bluhm began his musical journey while studying at Chico State, where he co-founded The Mother Hips.

Over the ensuing two and a half decades, Bluhm released nine studio albums with the band, sharing bills with everyone from Johnny Cash and Wilco to Lucinda Williams and The Black Crowes.

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 Californian Jackie Greene and engineer Dave Simon-Baker.

He was severely injured in 2015 in a speed-flying accident.

“For the first three or four months, I couldn’t move,” he said in a press release. “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.”

Tickets for both shows are available at Pacific Ace Hardware, 35 Main St., Winters; Armadillo Music, 207 F St., Davis; Davids’ Broken Note, 527 Main St., Woodland; online via The Palms’ website and Eventbrite; and at the door if not sold out.

For more information, visit palmsplayhouse.com, timbluhm.com and coffisbrothers.com.

The venue is at 13 Main St.

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