Nicki has said she sang as a teenager in the Bay Area and and took up guitar in college in San Diego. She met Tim Bluhm, singer of Bay Area cult favorite The Mother Hips, who offered to produce tracks for her in his home studio in San Francisco. She soon moved to San Francisco and performed shows with guitarist Deren Ney (a friend from high school) at night as she worked on the album. While making the album Nicki and Tim married. The record, "Toby's Song" (Little Knickers, 2008), featured an ad hoc studio band of Ney, singer/songwriter Jackie Greene (Jackie Greene Band, Phil Lesh and Friends, The Black Crowes), ALO's Steve Adams (bass) and The Mother Hips' John Hofer (drums). When Toby's Song was Bluhm started using the name Nicki Bluhm and The Gramblers.