Singer and songwriter Nicki Bluhm will mark her return to the Song Summit after making her event debut last year. The Song Summit will run Aug. 27-29, and Bluhm is scheduled to perform three events Aug. 28 and 29. Credit: Photo courtesy of Lauren Massie Singer and songwriter Nicki Bluhm made her Song Summit debut last year playing with the Terrapin Family Band, an ensemble and concept founded by the Grateful Dead’s late bassist, Phil Lesh. “It was great,” Bluhm remembered. “I think it’s special every time you get to meet up with your friends and play music together in an intentional gathering.” Bluhm looks forward to her Song Summit return this year where she is scheduled to perform three shows in two nights, Aug. 28 and 29. The first gig will be with “Mountain Jam: A Song Summit Collective,” featuring Eric Krasno, Patrick Hallahan of My Morning Jacket, Ivan Neville, Tony Hall, and Ross James and Alex Koford — both core members of the Terrapin Family Band — at 7 p.m. on Aug. 28 at The Marquis. The second performance will see Bluhm, James, Krasno, Koford and Holly Bowling provide the soundtrack to Chris Benchetler’s winter-sports documentary film, “Mountains of the Moon,” at 3 p.m. on Aug. 29 at the Park City Library’s Jim Santy Auditorium. And Bluhm’s third appearance at the 2026 Song Summit will be during Aiko Friends’ “Ace Back to Back: A Tribute to Bobby Weir” show with Aiko, a band featuring Song Summit founder Ben Anderson, at 7 p.m. at The Marquis. Krasno and James will also join the throng. Bluhm is ready for those shows. “So many of us (musicians), especially in the Terrapin Family Band, came up together,” she said. “We had so many formative years together at Terrapin Crossroads, Phil and Jill Lesh’s venue in Marin County. And a lot of us cut our teeth together and formed these special musical relationships and lifelong friendships.” Lesh, who died Oct. 25, 2024, was ground zero when it came to introducing these musicians to each other, according to Bluhm. “I met Eric Krasno through Phil and I met Ross James through Phil,” she said. “I also met Phil’s son, Grahame. Phil was such a steward of upcoming musicians by gathering people together and providing opportunities for us to play together, and sharing the experience of music. So, it’s a special opportunity we get to continue to perform in the spirit of Phil — something that started so many years ago.” Providing the live soundtrack to “Mountains of the Moon” will be a new experience for Bluhm. “I know Ross and some of the others have done it once or twice before, and I know Ross is so stoked about it,” she said. “So, I’m excited to be asked to be part of it to experience it.” Bluhm also looks forward to performing the soundtrack with pianist Bowling. “It’s always nice to have another female energy on stage,” she said.  “Mountains of the Moon” is a winter-sport experimental art film and immersive project, filmed mostly at night, by Benchetler in 2025, and Bluhm looks forward to playing the score, but also seeing the film.  “I was raised on ski films, like what Warren Miller did, and I love it when mediums like film and live music collide,” she said. Bluhm’s Song Summit appearances will culminate with the tribute to Weir, the Grateful Dead singer and guitarist who died earlier this year. Weir, himself, appeared at the Song Summit with his band, Wolf Brothers, in 2023. “It’s an honor to get to play the songs of the Grateful Dead and honor our fallen heroes,” Bluhm said. “I knew Bob personally, so it will be special to get to gather and revisit that musical catalogue with a sort of different approach through a different lens.” Since last year’s Song Summit, Bluhm has kept herself busy with her own music, and released her most recent album, “Rancho Deluxe,” last autumn. The 10-song project features her friends Kai Welch, Jess Nolan and Cameron Neal, who have made their respective names working with Kacey Musgraves, Jenny Lewis and Shakey Graves. “I’ve lived in Nashville for nine years, and have developed some meaningful musical relationships and friendships,” Bluhn said about these musicians and songwriters. “We wrote all the songs together and it’s a reflection of the community that we built here.” The album was produced by Bluhm’s partner and fellow singer-songwriter, Jesse Noah Wilson. “We live in Davidson County, the northern part of Nashville in a town called Madison, and we have a studio here that the album is named after,” she said. “So something I wanted to do was make a full-length record at our studio on our land. We’re on 28 acres and have horses and all kinds of farm chores to get done every day. So, the music is a nice complement and respite from the manual labor.” Bluhm always wanted to find the balance between making music and running a farm.   “Being a touring musician for so many years and hitting the road hard all year long makes it hard to maintain any kind of normalcy in a homelife, let alone take care of pets and land,” she said. “So, for me it was a conscious decision. Post-pandemic I had the realization that I didn’t have to be on the road all the time. And since that big shift in all of our lives, I’ve made more conscious decisions to commit to being home more than gone.” “Rancho Deluxe” is singer-songwriter Nicki Bluhm’s latest album. The record, which was released last autumn, features her friends Kai Welch, Jess Nolan and Cameron Neal, who have made their respective names working with Kacey Musgraves, Jenny Lewis and Shakey Graves. Credit: Image courtesy of Little Sur That perspective helped fuel Bluhm’s songwriting for the album. “I feel there is a pretty thematic line that runs through the record: finding appreciation and the (calmness),” she said. “And this is probably the first record I’ve written in a long time where the catalyst wasn’t pain or suffering. I think a lot of artists fear that if they don’t have chaos in their lives they may not have a lot to write about. So, I think this record is a good example of showing there are all kinds of things to write about. There are experiences and realizations and simple stories to tell.” Bluhm’s new perspective helped her step into “Keep on Growing,” a campaign that converges her passion for environmental advocacy and social change with Range Revolution, a leather-goods company founded by Cate Havstad that uses regeneratively sourced hides. “Cate has been a good friend of mine for a long time,” Bluhm said. “We met many years ago when I was touring in the Pacific Northwest.” Havstad first reached out to Bluhm via social media and said she wanted to make the singer a hat. “She sent me a picture of Cher with one of those fantastic hats, and I needed to know more about her,” Bluhm said. “I found out that she had this realization that there was so much waste in the leather and cattle industry, and decided to work locally with agricultural farmers and ranchers to discover a way to create a regenerative leather company.” That mission resonated with Bluhm. “All these years later, Cate and I have continued to be fans of each other on the personal and professional level,” she said. “So, I gave her the pick of songs from the record, and she selected ‘Keep on Growing.’” Bluhm enjoys collaborating with like-minded organizations and businesses such as Range Revolution. “I think it’s cool to use each other’s platforms to reach audiences,” she said. “We all have to stick together and lift each other up.” Although Bluhm is focused on her upcoming Song Summit appearances, she is still getting used to her post-COVID lifestyle. “I’ve been home for almost a month, which is a very long stretch for me, and I think, ‘This is so interesting,’ because I am just living,” she said, laughing. “And it feels really good. But in the back of my head I know I was approaching the next cycle of getting back to the studio and making a new record, but I’m also dreaming of ways to share this 28 acres and barn with people for some kind of community gathering.” Last year, Bluhm and Wilson hosted a private event featuring Lockeland Strings in their barn. “It was fun to share that space with the community,” she said. “So I’m trying to live and be OK with this mindset, which is very pure.”  Nicki Bluhm at the 2026 Song Summit ‘Mountain Jam: A Song Summit Collective’  When: 7 p.m., Aug. 28 Where: The Marquis, 427 Main St. ‘Mountains of the Moon’  When; 3 p.m., Aug 29 Where: Park City Library’s Jim Santy Auditorium Aiko Friends’ ‘Ace Back to Back: A Tribute to Bobby Weir’  When: 7 p.m., Aug. 29 Where: The Marquis Tickets and information: songsummit.com The post Singer-songwriter swings back to the Song Summit appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less