Nicki Bluhm's 2nd album honest riff of Americana

Spend some time around Nicki Bluhm - on the phone, watching her perform or perhaps hanging out after the show - and you get the impression she doesn't quite realize how talented she is.

Originally an elementary schoolteacher and ranch hand where she cared for horses, Bluhm says she always loved singing, but never considered it a calling.

"For me a career was something you had to earn," she says. "So to label myself as a musician felt really uncomfortable for me."

Bluhm began to earn her place in the music world on New Year's Eve 2006. After attending a show by Northern California rock band the Mother Hips in San Diego, where she lived at the time, Bluhm found herself in a downtown motel room at the "official after party." Sitting around with the band and a group of friends as they played round robin with the guitar, before long Bluhm was singing an Allman Brothers song. The Mother Hips' front man, Tim Bluhm, was blown away; he knew instantly that she had something special.

"It was like our worlds collided at that moment," she says.

She had grown up watching the Mother Hips and had a crush on Tim Bluhm for some time. Following the party, he encouraged her to come to San Francisco, where he lived, to record a few songs at his studio. This was the seed for Bluhm's 2008 debut album, "Toby's Song." The duo married soon after, and he helped her form the Gramblers with her childhood friend, guitarist Deren Ney.

It didn't take long for the buzz to spread, and now Bluhm collaborates with some of the Bay Area's finest musicians. In addition to her husband, who plays with Bluhm when his schedule allows, ALO bassist Steve Adams, Jackpot drummer Mike Curry and guitarist/singer Dave Mulligan all share the stage with Bluhm and the Gramblers. And her sophomore album "Driftwood" (due Feb. 1) features special guests Jackie Greene, Railroad Earth's Tim Carbone, ALO's Dan Lebowitz , Dengue Fever's Dave Ralicke, as well as Greg Loiacono and Paul Hoaglin of the Mother Hips.

The ground covered from "Toby's Song" to "Driftwood" is remarkable and instantly announces a new voice on the Americana scene. Over the course of 11 songs, about half written by Bluhm, the singer's rich, warm vocals lead the band effortlessly from power soul and '70s golden pop to roots rock burners and a duet with her husband that vaguely recalls June Carter and Johnny Cash.

"I wanted to make sure this was an honest record. And with honesty there is a timelessness," Bluhm says. "I was really influenced by Bonnie Raitt, especially her early stuff; there's a purity about it that I'm drawn to."

Bluhm also references Linda Ronstadt as a big influence; toss in some Fleetwood Mac and a bit of Grace Potter, and you're getting the picture. But one name that might not immediately come to mind is Merle Haggard.

" 'Driftwood' is definitely a Merle Haggard ode," Bluhm says, explaining that the album title was taken from the song of the same name off Haggard's 1990 release "Blue Jungle."

"And there's another Merle connection in the record on the song 'Jetplane,' at the end I say, 'Silver wings shining in the sunlight,' and that's from a Merle Haggard song, too," she says. "I like being under his little wing."

9:30 p.m., Sat. $10-$12. Cafe Du Nord, 2170 Market St., S.F. (415) 861-5016. www.cafedunord.com.

- Aaron Kayce, 96hours@sfchronicle.com

This article appeared on page G - 3 of the San Francisco Chronicle