Steve Forbert has been a pioneer of the folk & roots-rock sound for more than four decades, from his 1978 debut album to his new studio album, the vital and versatile Moving Through America.
Years before Americana music earned its own category at the Grammy Awards, Steve Forbert helped pioneer the genre's mix of folk, roots-rock, and richly delivered storytelling. He's been a torchbearer of that sound for more than four decades since, navigating the twists and turns of an acclaimed career that's taken him from gold records to Grammy nominations, from New York City's CBGB to Nashville's Bluebird Cafe, from 1978’s Alive On Arrival to his 22nd studio album Moving Through America.
The songs take centerstage once again on Moving Through America. Filled with character portraits and quirky insights, the album unfolds like a mosaic of modern-day American life, delivered by someone who's been crisscrossing the country for nearly half a century. With an author's nuance and a humorist's wit, Forbert offer glimpses into the everyday lives of his characters: a dog running from the sky's thunderclaps; a Houston man preparing to take his girlfriend out for fried oysters; a former drug dealer celebrating his freedom after incarceration; a road-tripping motorist steadily making his way across the midwest. Forbert inhabits each character, turning their storylines into first-person narratives that blur the lines between subject and scribe.
Backed by the same band that appeared on his collection of cover songs, Early Morning Rain (2020), Forbert sounds every bit as spirited as he did in the late 1970s, back when he left his hometown of Meridian, Mississippi, and headed to New York in search of new horizons.