Forest Sun (born August 6, 1973) is an Americana singer-songwriter from

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, United States.

History

He was born Forest Sun Schumacher, in

Glens Falls Glens Falls is a city in Warren County, New York, United States and is the central city of the Glens Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 14,700 at the 2010 census. The name was given by Colonel Johannes Glen, the falls refe ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, United States. In 1999, Forest Sun created the

independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represented ...

, Painted Sun Records, and released his first album, ''Not Afraid''. The following year he released ''Plenty'', in San Francisco, California.

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

noted that "in these ten small gems, Sun offers the Muse the gift of his voice to write and sing though. Traces of rock & roll's past, present, and hopefully future mingle with

progressive folk music Progressive folk was originally a type of American folk music that pursued a progressive political agenda. More recently, the term has also been applied to a style of contemporary folk that draws from post-Bob Dylan folk music and adds new lay ...

, textured, moody pop, and a healthy sense of literary finesse." In 2002, Forest Sun performed at the Strawberry Music Festival, and Shoreline Amphitheatre, opening for

Bonnie Raitt Bonnie Lynn Raitt (; born November 8, 1949) is an American blues singer and guitarist. In 1971, Raitt released her self-titled debut album. Following this, she released a series of critically acclaimed roots-influenced albums that incorporated ...

and

Lyle Lovett Lyle Pearce Lovett (born November 1, 1957) Lyle Lovett Pageat Allmusic – Lovett's Genre and Styles. Retrieved February 2, 2007 is an American singer, songwriter, actor and record producer. Active since 1980, he has recorded 13 albums and relea ...

. In 2003, he performed at the Concord Pavilion opening for

Jackson Browne Clyde Jackson Browne (born October 9, 1948) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and political activist who has sold over 18 million albums in the United States. Emerging as a precocious teenage songwriter in mid-1960s Los Angeles, he h ...

Keb Mo Kevin Roosevelt Moore (born October 3, 1951), known as Keb' Mo', is an American blues musician and five-time Grammy Award winner. He is a singer, guitarist, and songwriter, living in Nashville, Tennessee. He has been described as "a living link ...

, and

Steve Earle Stephen Fain Earle (; born January 17, 1955) is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, author, and actor. Earle began his career as a songwriter in Nashville and released his first EP in 1982. Initially working in the country music g ...

''For The Story'' (2003) was again commented on my AllMusic noting "The highlight is the album's centerpiece track, "Always," a jazzy piano-based shuffle featuring guest vocals by the

Be Good Tanyas The Be Good Tanyas are a Canadian folk music group formed in Vancouver in 1999. Their influences include folk, country, and bluegrass. The style of music they perform can be referred to as alt-country or Americana. History The Be Good Tanya ...

Jolie Holland Jolie Holland is an American singer and performer who combines elements of folk, traditional, country, rock, jazz, and blues. Career Growing up in Houston, Texas, Jolie left in 1994, moving to Austin, New Orleans, and San Francisco before en ...

." He later hosted Songbird Radio on

KWMR KWMR (90.5 FM) is a community radio station licensed to Point Reyes Station, California, United States. It also broadcasts from Bolinas, California and Lagunitas, California with two translators. Translators See also *List of community radio s ...

Point Reyes Station, California Point Reyes Station (formerly, Marin and Olema Station) is a small unincorporated town in western Marin County, California, United States. Point Reyes Station is located south-southeast of Tomales, at an elevation of . Point Reyes Station is locat ...

. In 2005, he played at the

Mountain Winery The Mountain Winery, formerly the Paul Masson Mountain Winery, is a winery in Saratoga, California, United States, North America. It was founded by Paul Masson, a pioneer of the California wine industry. The winery became famous for its slogan, v ...

, opening for the

Beach Boys A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shell ...

. ''Walk Through Walls'' was released on May 13, 2005. In 2008, prompted by his mother's battle with cancer, Forest Sun began a benefit project to support people with cancer and their families by hosting benefit concerts in

Santa Fe, New Mexico Santa Fe ( ; , Spanish for 'Holy Faith'; tew, Oghá P'o'oge, Tewa for 'white shell water place'; tiw, Hulp'ó'ona, label=Tiwa language, Northern Tiwa; nv, Yootó, Navajo for 'bead + water place') is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. ...

, which led to producing

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

s called ''Songs for Laura''. These albums brought together over forty artists such as

Sean Hayes Sean Patrick Hayes (born June 26, 1970) is an American actor, comedian, and producer. He is best known for playing Jack McFarland on the NBC sitcom ''Will & Grace'', for which he won a Primetime Emmy Award, four SAG Awards, and one American Come ...

Animal Liberation Orchestra Animal Liberation Orchestra (also known casually as ALO) is a California rock band currently signed to Jack Johnson's Brushfire Records label. They have released four full-length albums for Brushfire, as well as a number of prior independent ...

Brett Dennen Brett Michael Dennen (born October 28, 1979) is an American folk/pop singer-songwriter from Central California. His seventh studio album, ''See the World'' was released in July 2021. Early life Dennen grew up in Central Valley, California in a s ...

Matt the Electrician Matt the Electrician is the pseudonym, stage name of Matt Sever, a singer-songwriter based in Austin, Texas. Sever has released a total of 12 albums through 2017 and his work has been used in advertising, film and American radio and television pr ...

Tom Freund Tom Freund (born August 28, 1968) is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Freund's music consists of elements of folk rock, americana and alternative rock. Freund met Ben Harper when he was attending Pitzer College in Clarem ...

Danny Schmidt Danny Schmidt (born October 7, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter based in Austin, Texas, where he now lives with his wife, fellow musician and singer-songwriter Carrie Elkin. Biography Schmidt was born in 1970 and grew up in Austin, Tex ...

Anaïs Mitchell Anaïs Mitchell (; born March 26, 1981) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and playwright. Mitchell has released eight studio albums, including ''Hadestown'' (2010), '' Young Man in America'' (2012),

The Mammals The Mammals are a contemporary folk rock band based in the Hudson Valley area of New York, in the United States. The band tours internationally and consists of founding members and principal songwriters Mike Merenda (guitar, banjo) and Ruth Un ...

and

Devon Sproule Devon Sproule (born 23 April 1982) is a folk and indie rock singer-songwriter and musician based in Charlottesville, Virginia. She shared the ASCAP Foundation Sammy Cahn Award for 2009 with Oren Lavie. She is married to fellow musician, and mus ...

. ''So Nice'' and ''Harlequin Goodnight'', featuring songs with ALO and

, were issued in 2008. The following year, Forest Sun added the musical collaboration of Ingrid Serban and the two begin to tour as a duo. Forest Sun released his first children's album, ''Just for Fun'' (2010), which was a collection of original songs and Americana classics such as "

You Are My Sunshine "You Are My Sunshine" is a song published by Jimmie Davis and Charles Mitchell on January 30, 1940. According to Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI), the song has been recorded by over 350 artists and translated into 30 languages. In 1977, the Louis ...

," and "

Polly Wolly Doodle "Polly Wolly Doodle" is a traditional American children's song. It was sung by Dan Emmett's Virginia Minstrels, who premiered at New York's Bowery Amphitheatre in February 1843, and is often credited to Emmett (1815–1904). It was known to have ...

". The recordings featured members of

Marley's Ghost Jacob Marley is a fictional character in Charles Dickens's 1843 novella ''A Christmas Carol'', a former business partner of the miser Ebenezer Scrooge, who has been dead for seven years.Hawes, Donal''Who's Who in Dickens'' Routledge (1998), Goog ...

and Ingrid Serban. In 2012, Forest Sun released ''Just Begun''. The album featured Tucsonian musicians such as Winston Watson, drummer for

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

and

Lenny Kravitz Leonard Albert Kravitz (born May 26, 1964) is an American singer-songwriter. His style incorporates elements of rock, blues, soul, R&B, funk, jazz, reggae, hard rock, psychedelic, pop and folk. Kravitz won the Grammy Award for Best Male Roc ...

, Jacob Valenzuela, trumpet player for

Calexico Calexico () is a city in southern Imperial County, California. Situated on the Mexican border, it is linked economically with the much larger city of Mexicali, the capital of the Mexican state of Baja California. It is about east of San Diego ...

, and was recorded in

Tucson , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

, at the Wavelab Studios. In 2018 thanks to his Kickstarter backers Forest began releasing a new song every month culminating in a new album to be released in October 2019. As an actor Forest has appeared in the film “Who’s there?” (directed by Cassie Jaye and premiering at the Tall Grass Film Festival) Forest played a fireman and his song “Long Day” is in the soundtrack during the closing credits. “All Sales Final” Directed by Ingrid Serban won “Best Short Film made on a Smart Device” at the Albuquerque Film and Music Festival.“Elusory” directed by Scott Steiner premiered at the Amazon Underground Film Festival in Brazil. Forest composed the soundtrack to the upcoming feature documentary “Free Trip To Egypt”.

Discography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Forest Sun 1973 births Living people People from Glens Falls, New York Singer-songwriters from New York (state) 21st-century American singer-songwriters