The book on Steve Forbert
Songwriter-troubadour Steve Forbert is in the middle of an acoustic tour of Borders book stores. He doesn’t sound too enamored with the concept, but he does like the idea of connecting with his fans.
“It seems pretty good so far,” he said recently. “I’m doing about 20 of them. It’s working out all right. I get around and let people know the record is out and then I can go back to all these places and play the clubs like I always do.”
The album he is working is “Rocking Horse Head,” his second for Paladin/Revolution (formerly Giant), backed by the members of Wilco. It’s another absorbing notch on Forbert’s 19-year resume.
With the advent of Triple-A radio, Forbert finally feels at home, and that’s a big step for the Mississippi-born singer, who was discarded in the new-wave ’80s after scoring a No. 11 hit with “Romeo’s Tune” in late 1979.
“I think Americana is great,” he said. “All through the ’80s, I was wishing there was something sort of related to The Band out there in radioland, something between pop and country. And I guess that’s what this is really, isn’t it? So, it’s fine with me.”
Forbert says he had two goals in mind with “Rocking Horse Head.”
“One was simply to try and get a record out within sort of a year after the last one, and I thought we had some momentum going with ‘Mission of the Crossroad Palms,’ ” he said. “It wasn’t a big seller, but it got the ball rolling.
“The second thing was to make a record a little looser. The ‘Mission’ record, I’m proud of it and I like it, but it was rather tidy. That’s why we didn’t rehearse at all with this new one. I wanted it to be completely fresh.”
BWF (before we forget): The Steve Forbert album discography – “Alive On Arrival” (Nemperor, 1978); “Jackrabbit Slim” (1979); “Little Stevie Orbit” (1980); “Steve Forbert” (1982); “Streets of This Town” (Geffen, 1988); “The American In Me” (1992); “Mission of the Crossroad Palms” (Paladin/Giant, 1995); “Rocking Horse Head” (Paladin/Revolution, 1996).
About the Author
Gerry Galipault Gerry Galipault debuted Pause & Play online in October 1997. Since then, it has become the definitive place for CD-release dates — with a worldwide audience.
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