Forest Sun: Bio

FOREST SUN

San Francisco Bay Area troubadour and award winning songwriter, Forest Sun has regaled audiences around the globe with his wealth of songs and stories, all sung and told with back porch ease and bonhomie. He's opened for Bonnie Raitt, The Beach Boys, Steve Earle, Lyle Lovett, Jackson Browne and Keb Mo among others and collaborations on his many records include the likes of such musical luminaries as Jolie Holland, Sean Hayes, ALO, Hot Buttered Rum to name a few.
In 2007 Forest was awarded 1st place in the Pacific Song Writing Competition with "Drops in the Ocean," and in 2009 his song "Gurus and Rockstars" from the album “Harlequin Goodnight” was nominated for best song in the Just Plain Folks Awards.
His music provided soundtracks for "Land of Saints, " "A Common Thread," and "5th Symphony Document."
Forest Sun has been featured on KFOG Local Scene Vol. 1 and 3 and the Japanese compilations "Surf Time" vol. 1 and 2.
As well as producing his own 7 records, “Not Afraid,” “Plenty,” “For the Story,” “Walk through Walls,” “So Nice,” “Harlequin Goodnight” and the 2010 release of the children's record, “Just for Fun,” Forest Sun has produced Minneapolis song-writer Alex Goldfarb, the benefit CDs Songs for Laura" Vol 1 and 2 and hosted the monthly Songbird Series at the Bazaar Cafe and Songbird Radio on KWMR.

Acoustically, he tours with Ingrid Serban singing harmonies and the full band includes David Phillips on lap steel, Steve Adams from ALO on bass and Michael Messer on drums.
Sun's music has been compared to everyone from Jack Johnson to Van Morrison but his unique style is entirely his own. As one reviewer said, "Forest Sun's music is full of life—real life, that is. It is joyful, but also poignant, upbeat and at the same time deep and soulful. His cd is a must-have, but a live performance is even better." Elisabeth Lesser

Some of Forest Sun's favorite played venues:

Great American Music Hall

Rally on Dam Square for the Tibetan Freedom Concert in Amsterdam

The Independent

Café Du Nord

The Mountain Winery

142 Throckmorton Theatre

Strawberry Music Festival

(for a full list please see the past events calendar)

Live on KFOG, KPFA, KALW, KWMR, KDVS, KPIG, KMUN, KBOO, WERS,WRPI, KBAC

THE BAND

Ingrid Serban - vocals, accordion, piano

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Born and raised in Transylvania, Romania, her singing career begun at the age of 2. She started studying the piano at 6 and formally begun studying voice at the age of 14. After moving to the US in 1998, she obtained a music degree with an emphasis in voice and continued to teach voice and piano at the university level. For the past 15 years, Ingrid has won several music awards and as a soloist, has performed numerous concerts and recitals both with full orchestras and more intimate settings. Today, she lends harmonies to Forest Sun’s music as well as composing, arranging and 

some solo work.

Steve Adams - acoustic/electric bass

Buying his first electric bass guitar at age 13 and playing in bands throughout high school led bassist Steve Adams to the Music Department at UC Santa Barbara in 1993. While working toward his degree in Ethnomusicology, he further explored the upright acoustic bass, focusing on American (Jazz, Bluegrass), Mexican (Mariachi) and Middle Eastern (Arabic, Persian, Turkish) music. Today, Steve's broad range of experiences, along with his great groove and warm tone, make him an in-demand bass player both in the studio and on stage.

When off the road with ALO, you can usually catch Steve with an assortment of players such as Skinny Singers, Nicki Bluhm, Forest Sun, Big Light, Newfangled Wasteland and more.

www.stevenrueadams.com

www.myspace.com/stevenrueadams

David Phillips - lap steel, dobro, Weisenborn

David Phillips adds his masterful pedal steel, lap steel, dobro, and Weisenborn to Forest Sun’s records and live performances. A Georgia native who started his music career as a lead guitarist, eventually relocated to the Bay Area, where in addition to playing in Forest’s band he has played with Frank Black, Tom Waits, Charlie Hunter, John Wesley Harding, Peter Rowan and more.

Michael Messer - drums, percussion

The fuse for what became a lifetime passion was lit by Michael’s older brother, a drummer, who first introduced him up close and personal to the audio/visual magic that is drumming. Michael went on to cut his musical teeth in the fertile L.A. music scene of the 70’s and 80’s performing in clubs, concerts, recording sessions, weddings, bar mitzvahs, whatever! Some standouts that he backed include Bobby Day of “Rockin Robin” fame, Jewel Akins, “Birds & the Bees,” Robert John who had the #1 national hit, “Sad Eyes,” and Cherie Curie from the Runaways.

He indulged his love of the greasy groove by relocating to New Orleans in the 90’s playing locally and touring with the likes of songwriter/slide guitar phenom Anders Osborne, Theresa Andersson, Maria Muldaur, Cajun fiddler Waylon Thibodeaux, longtime Bourbon Street saxophonist Gary Brown and the legendary piano player Eddie Zip, whose entire band (including Zip) Lowell George hired when he went solo.

Michael moved to the SF Bay area in the 00’s performing with a wide variety of artists including Melvin Seals (Jerry Garcia Band), Steve Willis (Elvin Bishop), Mitch Woods and His Rocket 88’s, Tommy Castro, Daniel Castro, Jeffrey Halford, and the highly entertaining Those Darn Accordions. Michael has been playing with Forest Sun both live and on recordings since 2004. He says, “making music with Forest allows me to express the strengths of my musical comfort zone and urges me to move beyond its borders as well!”