Barbara Gehlmann: Press

"Barbara is graced with heart and soul and she shares these willingly with her audience through her powerful and captivating vocals."

"Nervy and raw tales that are unafraid to run the spectrum from angry to joyful."

Walterboro, South Carolina is a far cry from musical havens such as Nashville, New York, Seattle, or L.A. But like any good small town, Walterboro has its own homegrown musicians. Barbara Gehlmann first began her musical career when she was much younger. Often she would watch her sister play piano, then in her sister's absence, Gehlmann would hunt and peck for the keys to make the same chords she heard her sister play. This same self-teaching method was used to learn how to play guitar. Unable to afford a new guitar, Gehlmann found and old, stringless instrument at her mother's house.
"I asked her, "Well how am I supposed to play that?" Gehlmann said.
With a set of new strings and a patient ear, Gehlmann developed her skills. Incorporating influences such as Janis Joplin and Jewel, Gehlmann adopted a folk-blues sound.
Going on to begin writing her own lyrics and music she was asked by a friend at Crystal Rain studios to come by and make a recording. So in 1998 "Home," featuring 12 songs and a cover photograph taken by Gehlmann, was released. The album's title track quietly delves into the Thomas Wolfe-like sentiment of you can't go home again.
After entering a Charleston Cafe's competition for studio time and winning, Gehlmann brought on the helping hands of Nick Kelly of Gallery Music on lead guitar and harmonica to release her self-titled CD "Barbara Gehlmann." Kelly's harmonica plaintively soars above Gehlmann's gritty, Indigo-Girls-flavored voice on tracks including "Last Night" and "Come Go With Me."