Steve Forbert Adds New UK Dates in 2019

New Album The Magic Tree Out Now Plays Celtic Connections January 24th

After the release of his evocative new album ‘The Magic Tree’ on September 12th 2018, legendary American songwriter, Steve Forbert adds new dates to his 2019 UK tour including a show as part of the annual international roots music celebration, Celtic Connections, on January 24th. Tickets for Celtic Connections on sale now at www.celticconnections.com.

Produced by Karl Derfler (Tom Waits, Dave Matthews ‘The Magic Tree’ offers a series of songs gleaned from previously recorded acoustic demos, augmented with new backing tracks. The collection rings with the verve and vitality that Forbert’s fans have always come to expect.

Consistently upbeat and optimistic, the album’s songs recorded in Meridian, Nashville, New York, and New Jersey and Virginia convey a firm sense that age ought not diminish a lust for living. Revered critic the late Paul Nelson wrote about Forbert in Rolling Stone almost 40 years ago: “…Nothing, nothing in this world, is going to stop Steve Forbert, and on that I’ll bet anything you’d care to wager.”

Steve Forbert plays the following UK shows:
January
Wed 23rd LIVERPOOL, Philharmonic Music Room
Thurs 24th GLASGOW, ST Andrews in the Square (w/ Caroline Spence)

February
Tues 5th  DERBY, Flowerpot
Thurs 7th GOSFORTH, Civic Hall
Fri 8th   LEEDS, Thorner VH
Sat 9th  ABERDOUR, Woodside Hotel

More than four decades have passed since Steve Forbert made his way to New York City from his Meridian, Mississippi birthplace in quest of a career in music.Lower Manhattan in 1976 with its emerging new wave and punk scene was a most unlikely time and place for an archetypal folk singer armed with just an acoustic guitar an a sheaf of very personal songs to leap into the fray.

After busking on the street for change from passers by, he rose to sharing bills at CBGB’s with the likes of Talking Heads and John Cale as well as headlining more traditional venues such as The Bitter End and Kenny’s Castaways. Against staggering odds, he found blazing success early on with a string of critically acclaimed and commercially accepted albums including Alive on Arrival (1978), Jackrabbit Slim (1979), and Little Stevie Orbit (1980) and a most unlikely smash hit single, “Romeo’s Tune.”

His career had its share of triumphs as well as stumbles and disappointments as did his private life.  Through it all, over the course of a marriage, divorce, raising three children, writing and recording 18 studio albums and fronting an ever changing line-up of supporting musicians, he persevered and stayed true to his roots and the folk ethos.

Now, those life-changing experiences have been chronicled by Forbert in Big City Cat: My Life In Folk Rock, co-written with Therese Boyd. The memoir, originally conceived as a stage play, offers a uniquely introspective view of a life and career during a period of cultural upheaval and the author’s emerging self-awareness.

Sharing reflections and journals he kept at the time, Forbert weaves an absorbing narrative that fully addresses the trials, travails and triumphs that would eventually play out over the course of his prolific 40+ year career. Big City Cat: My Life In Folk Rock features first-person commentary from those who worked with Forbert on the road and in the studio.

www.steveforbert.com