Bhi Bhiman

The son of Sri Lankan immigrants, one-of-a-kind folksinger and songwriter Bhi Bhiman (he was named after a character in the Mahabharata) spent his childhood in St. Louis, Missouri, and began playing guitar when he was nine years old. As a teen he fell under the influence of bands like Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Alice in Chains, but as he began to write his own songs, full of joyous wordplay and sharp humor, he began to sound more like Bob Dylan or Woody Guthrie, and he developed an utterly unique, Americana-fueled style that turned on his remarkable, Nina Simone-like voice. Relocating to the Bay Area, Bhiman began to establish himself on the local circuit, and released an album, Cookbook, in 2007. His songwriting style, which ranged from political to personal, continued to evolve, and his second album, simply called Bhiman and released early in 2012, marked the arrival of an artist fully formed and drew comparison to songwriters like Randy Newman, Dylan, John Prine, and Phil Ochs, although his sharp observations, puns, characters, and approach were wonderfully his own.