San Francisco Bay Area singer and songwriter Chris Ahlman plays for the love of music. With his smooth, soulful vocal delivery and warm riffs from his Martin acoustic guitar, he hopes that people listening will take away a feeling of inspiration and positivity.
“I believe in sending positive vibrations out into our world. If someone is going through a hard time, which we all do sometimes, I hope my music can help them through that and make them feel better about their situation,” he told The Epoch Times.
He plays Americana music, which he describes as a blend of rock, folk, pop, and country all mixed into one.
“This style really found me. It has been a natural progression. It was reaffirmed during the release of my last album when I was working with a Nashville-based radio promoter by the name of Bill Wence. He said, yep, your style is definitely Americana. So I’ve been running with it,” Ahlman said.
His influences include Dave Matthews, Counting Crows, Pearl Jam, John Mayer, Train, Bob Dylan, The Fray, Augustana, David Gray, and Hootie and the Blowfish, according to his website.
Ahlman’s influences can be heard in his music, as online fan Timothy Moore noted.
“Very enjoyable,” Moore stated, according to Ahlman’s website. “If you put John Mayer and Dave Matthews together you would get something very close to you.”

A still of Chris Ahlman from the music video for his song “Resiliency.” (Courtesy of Chris Ahlman)
Ahlman’s most recent album, “The SunCrashers,” debuted at #10 on the Americana Country Album Chart, according to his website.
“Which essentially means that it received a lot of radio airplay,” he said. “That was an amazing turn of events for me, and I will be working with that same radio promoter, Bill Wence, to promote my upcoming album.”
Though a Bay Area native, Ahlman heads to Nashville to record his albums with the Grammy-recognized songwriter and producer Cliff Goldmacher, who has worked with artists like Keb’ Mo’, Ke$ha, Lisa Loeb, and Mickey Hart. Goldmacher co-produced Ahlman’s last three albums and is set to record a fourth one this September in Nashville.
“I was introduced to Cliff Goldmacher back in 2015 by a friend of my mom’s. … We met up in Sonoma [in California] where he was living and had a studio at the time, and we decided to record a song together to see how it went,” Ahlman said. “He is an amazing guy to work with. He brings in the best studio musicians in Nashville when we record.”
For example, he said, on a number of his songs Goldmacher brought in Andrea Zonn, who plays the fiddle and sings in James Taylor’s band. Also, Kerry Marx provided all the electric guitar on his last two albums. Marx is the music director at the Grand Ole Opry and just recently performed with Taylor Swift.
Marx’s wife, Catherine, provided the keys on his last two albums. He said she played at that same Taylor Swift show with her husband, and she also plays with Willie Nelson and Reba McEntire.
Ahlman can be found playing in shows around the Bay Area, and more recently he’s been playing solo gigs, just him and his guitar.

Chris Ahlman performs at the restaurant Elia in Walnut Creek, Calif., on June 28, 2025. (Keegan Billings/The Epoch Times)

Chris Ahlman performs at the restaurant Elia in Walnut Creek, Calif., on June 28, 2025. (Keegan Billings/The Epoch Times)
As a spiritual person, he said he learned that God’s calling for him was to be a musician.
“I have truly followed that path, and it has been an incredible journey so far,” he said. “I am very blessed to get paid for doing something I enjoy.”

Chris Ahlman’s Martin guitar. (Keegan Billings/The Epoch Times)
He said it was his mother’s idea for him to start taking piano lessons when he was around 8 years old. When he was 15, he decided to learn the guitar, and after only two lessons, he taught himself the rest moving forward.
He took singing lessons as a young teenager and was involved in theater and musical theater when he was younger, which helped contribute to his musical skill. He started writing songs when he was 16.
“I love the experience of playing music, especially in front of a crowd. You just lock in and tap into that passion, which is a kind of magic,” he said. “It’s also a great feeling when you finish playing a show, like you really accomplished something special.”
Ahlman has played at many venues around the San Francisco Bay Area, from Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco to the Ritz-Carlton in Half Moon Bay, as well as in Southern California, Oregon, and all the way to the Bluebird Cafe and Commodore Grille in Nashville, among other venues.
He said getting paid to play is definitely good motivation, but it’s a lot more than that for him.
“I love the whole process of sharing my passion and experience with music with people who come to my shows or listen to me on the radio or on Spotify or Apple Music,” he said.

A still of Chris Ahlman from the music video for his song “Resiliency.” (Courtesy of Chris Ahlman)
“My music is focused towards inspiring people to think about life … and the world that we live in from a positive and good perspective,” Ahlman stated on his website. “I believe that music is a wonderful and good part of this world that brings people together.”
Ahlman has five albums: “The SunCrashers,” “Once Upon A Rhyme,” “Rollin on the Wind,” “Saving the Music,” and “Mighty Road.” They are available for purchase online on iTunes, Amazon, and CD Baby and can be listened to on Spotify, Pandora, Deezer, and Apple Music.
He also has music videos for his songs “Resiliency” and “Saving the Music.”