August 08, 2008

Steve Forbert

I'm not sure exactly how I came to learn of musician Steve Forbert, he released his debut Alive On Arrival 30 years ago this year, I was in my late teens and likely read a review in Rolling Stone (which, unfortunately, is a pale sickly shadow of what it was back then). There are several memorable songs on the album, songs which I hadn't heard for at least a decade, but even with the strong songwriting from the perspective of a young man from Mississippi making his way in the lonely New York jungle, it's Forbert's voice which always wins me over. It's a soft rasp, one which immediately sounds friendly, or familiar, but, oddly enough, unique. That one of a kind quality is borne in the phrasing he employs, not in an in-your-face style, he's much more subtle than that... it's the little things here and there that quietly snag like burrs in your socks.


Here's a sample from the 30 year old Alive On Arrival:
goin' down to laurel
tonight i feel so far away from home

6 comments:

  1. SO great to see this post!

    I love Steve and have since I first heard Alive On Arrival way back when. He puts on a great live show (I've seen him twice,) and he's very cordial. Like you, the voice always grabs me!

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  2. You're welcome, Nat. Good to hear from you once again.

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  3. I am still looking for "thirty thousand men"...one of Steve F.s
    greatest...

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  4. Have been looking for "thirty thousand men" for a long time,
    one of Steve F.s great songs..

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  5. ULF: You're in luck, take a look at the Sixeyes Monday Mix: Sept. 22.

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  6. Indeed I am lucky. Today. Thank you Alan. Tusen tack!

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