Kurt Johnson / Tahoe Onstage
The last time Lake Tahoe music fans saw Kimberley Dahme, she was playing with “just another band out of Boston.” But it was a pretty big deal.
Boston sold 75 million records and has a slew of iconic radio hit songs. Dahme played bass with the group for 10 years, just one of the chapters in her life of music.
The 2014 show was at Harveys Outdoor Arena and the Doobie Brothers were the co-headliners.
Dahme, 53, will perform in a six-piece band for a singular performance at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Valhalla Boathouse Theatre at the Tallac Historic Site.
“I love this band and the guys are sounding amazing,” Dahme said. “We are going to do a lot of my originals, a few covers, and we might do a Boston song to get the crowd up on their feet a little bit.
“I also will do some brand new stuff. I am working on a new project that I am getting ready to record. One is a bluesy kind of Bonnie Raitt style and the other is more of an Adele.”
For those who will fill the 150 seat venue on the lake Tahoe shoreline, the show is a rare treat. Dahme will not perform many shows in 2019. She’s writing songs from home, where she will savor family time until her daughter completes high school in May 2020.
“I don’t want to miss her marching bend performances,” Dahme said. “After she graduates high school, I will hit the road heavy again. But it’s great. I wouldn’t change anything. I am really grateful to have a kid and rock and roll. I’m a rock ‘n’ roll mom.”
Dahme has a country side, too. She moved to Nashville, where she produced several solo albums. She later met famed producer and drummer Tom Hambridge and played in his band.
In recent years, Hambridge has been the producer and songwriter for blues great Buddy Guy. He also produced the debut for Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, who played at Squaw Valley last Tuesday. Dahme predicts “another Grammy” for Hambridge for the “Kingfish” album.
Hambridge brought Dahme on tour in 2000 after releasing the album “Balderdash,” which included vocals by Susan Tedeschi. Dahme sang the Tedeschi parts and impressed a couple of concertgoers at a small Massachusetts venue: Boston’s Tom Scholz and Gary Pihl. The were seeking a bass player who could sing lead and harmonies.
“I had no idea they would be there,” Dahme said. “Tom waited in line for my autograph and he asked, ‘Can you play bass?’ Well, sure. But I couldn’t play a lick. But I can learn.”
And learn she did, and on Jan. 1, 2002, she performed with Boston at the Fiesta Bowl in Arizona.
Dahme appears with Boston on the 2002 studio album, “Corporate America.” She survived and recovered from a serious skiing accident that put her music career on hold for a couple of years.
In 2010, she played on a tribute album to Tommy Bolin, “Mister Bolin’s Late Night Revival.” And she has two recent albums that were co-produced by Hambridge, “Let’s Sleep On It Tonight” and “You Make Me Believe.”
Dahme plays numerous instruments, but for the Valhalla Boathouse show, she will front the band as a singer. For most shows, she plays acoustic guitar.
“This is me not working so hard,” Dahme laughed. “You guys (the band) do the playing, I’ll so the entertaining.”
“We have piano, two lead guitars, bass and drums. The guys are great at harmony and they have a really good concept of my music. We’ll do a little country and some rock. We’ll keep everybody happy.”
— Tim Parsons
- Kimberley Dahme
When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 17
Where: Valhalla Boathouse Theatre, Tallac Historic Site
Tickets: $22 and $32
Purchase: www.valhallatahoe.com
