Nicki Bluhm & the Gramblers - The Van Sessions, Part 2 (2012-2013)

Here's the second of my two Nicki Bluhm & the Gramblers' "The Van Sessions" albums. Please see my write up for the first album for an explanation. But, in short, even if you've never heard of this band, you'll want to hear their cover versions of hit songs, all recorded while they were driving in a van down a highway.

Before I say more, note that I first posted this album in 2019. Then I drastically overhauled it in 2026. I turned two albums into three, so some songs got moved from Volume 1 to this volume, and from this volume to a new Volume 3. Four songs were added to this volume, and more to the other two volumes. Furthermore, the sound quality of all the songs were drastically improved, due to new technology that allowed me to pretty much completely get rid of the hiss. And there was a lot of hiss, due to the way these were recorded in a van while it was actually moving. 

The "van sessions" songs were ordered on YouTube, from 1 to 37. I included the numbers in the mp3 tags when I could find them, and all the songs are in chronological order. All but four of the songs here are from the actual van sessions. The other four - tracks, 10, 11, 12, and 15 - are generally from other webcast broadcasts. You can find the exact details in the mp3 tags.

One thing I really like about their covers is that they're willing to play the songs they love no matter how uncool they are. They do versions of songs by Madonna, Whitney Houston, Paula Abdul, Kenny Rogers, and the like, as well as the usual classic rock suspects. I may not like the original versions of some of those songs, but their covers all sound good, and fun.

This album is 56 minutes long. 

UPDATE: On January 30, 2026, I heavily revised this album. See the changes discussed above. 

Here's a list of the original artists for each song: 

01 Islands in the Stream - Dolly Parton & Kenny Rogers
02 Watercolor Canvas - Bobby Darin
03 I Can t Go for That [No Can Do] - Hall & Oates
04 Easy - Commodores
05 Faith - George Michael
06 Hit Me with Your Best Shot - Pat Benatar
07 Days like This - Van Morrison
08 Stuck in the Middle with You - Stealers Wheel
09 Let's Hear It for the Boy - Deniece Williams
10 Fever - Little Willie John
11 Loving You Is Sweeter than Ever - Four Tops
12 Reno, Nevada - Mimi & Richard Farina
13 Band on the Run - Paul McCartney
14 Take the Money and Run - Steve Miller Band
15 Danny's Song - Loggins & Messina

Here's the usual song list:

01 Hit Me with Your Best Shot (Nicki Bluhm & the Gramblers)
02 Days like This (Nicki Bluhm & the Gramblers)
03 Stuck in the Middle with You (Nicki Bluhm & the Gramblers)
04 Band on the Run (Nicki Bluhm & the Gramblers)
05 Take the Money and Run (Nicki Bluhm & the Gramblers)
06 Lido Shuffle (Nicki Bluhm & the Gramblers)
07 Danny's Song (Nicki Bluhm & the Gramblers)
08 I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Nicki Bluhm & the Gramblers)
09 One Toke Over the Line (Nicki Bluhm & the Gramblers)
10 I Can Get Off on You (Nicki Bluhm & the Gramblers)
11 Bird Song (Nicki Bluhm & the Gramblers)
12 Mr. Saturday Night (Nicki Bluhm & the Gramblers)
13 Picture Book (Nicki Bluhm & the Gramblers)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/237u1ArE

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/x3r2pvOf6xnZf3F/file

The cover art is a photo of the band getting ready to record another video inside their van.