New Album Hey Magnolia is OUT NOW!

“Part Bob Dylan and part Rumi, “Hey Magnolia” is Forest Sun doing what he does best: creating musical poetry that gets better with each listen.” -Brian Rock - TJ MUSIC - Turnstyled, Junkpiled - Roots Music Magazine.

"Forest Sun is an exceptional singer/songwriter. His songs are evocative, expressive and flush with a feel-good sound that’s sorely needed in these troubled times.” -American Songwriter 

“Forest Sun dances with the American Dream, and you’ll dance along with him” -Americana Highways 

“...a troubadour with a massive amount of talent.“ -Take Effect Reviews 

"Forest Sun remains a vibrant, seminal cornerstone for modern Americana .” -Alan Cackett 

“Wizened realism imprints an extended sensation of immersion in the moment...inordinately charming” -All That Jazz 

Forest Sun's indomitable spirit shines in Stubborn Breathing Heart. This prolific artist once again creates a soulful and heartfelt album with a real and accessible understanding of the complexity of being human.” - Noteworthy Music

Forest Sun was born in upstate New York to folksinging back-to-the-land hippie parents. His dad used to chop wood with neighbor Garth Hudson of the Band and literally built the floor that Bob Dylan stood on at manager Albert Grossman’s Bearsville studios in Woodstock, NY.  His mom heard Pete Seeger and Joan Baez play when they filmed a TV show in her uncles living room in Boston, and dated one of the Chambers Brothers before she met his dad.  Weaned on a diet of Jackson Browne and Toots and the Maytals, some of Forest’s earliest memories are of his dad playing “Poncho and Lefty” by Townes Van Zandt and his mom singing Elizabeth Cotton’s “Freight Train”. Forest wrote songs with Rory Block when he was six years old, learned to juggle with WavyGravy when he was 9, and studied drumming with the late African master percussionist Babatunde Olatunji as a teenager.  In college he played in a band with SNL star Maya Rudolph. They opened for No Doubt at the Catalyst in Santa Cruz before Forest left to study art in Spain.   

A pioneer of the DIY movement he recorded his first record in his bedroom in San Francisco with bassist Seth Ford Young (Tom Waits, Edward Sharpe) and toured Europe for the first time, including playing at the Rally on Dam Square in Amsterdam for the Tibetan Freedom Concert where he first met Ben Harper, Alanis Morrisette and Thom Yorke. 

With over 78 million plays on Pandora, troubadour and award-winning songwriter, Forest Sun, enlivens audiences around the globe with his wealth of songs and stories, all sung and told in a laid-back California style. Sun's soulful music draws on a deep well of Americana and is compared to everyone from Jack Johnson and The Avett Brothers to Van Morrison and Bob Dylan.  He’s played festivals from California (Strawberry Music Festival, American River Music Festival) to Europe (Belladrum in Scottland, Fiesta City in Belgium),opened for such luminaries as Lyle Lovett, Bonnie Rait, Steve Earle, Keb Mo, and toured with folks like Brett Dennen, Mason Jennings and the Beach Boys (Forest met famed Beach Boys producer Van Dyke Parks at a festival porch jam and later swapped songs on his piano at his house in LA). Musical collaborations on his records include members of Bob Dylans band, members of Calexico/Iron and Wine, Heather Massse (The Wailin' Jennys, Prairie Home Companion) Jolie Holland (The Be Good Tanyas), JT Nero (of Birds of Chicago), Sean Hayes, jam band ALO, and bluegrass band Hot Buttered Rum.   

Forest’s songs mine his deep folk roots and embrace his love of gospel, soul, reggae, and country. 

Forest is also a visual artist and his original paintings and prints have in exhibitions at the Sala Lola Anglada in Barcelona, Spain, The Sebastopol Center for The Arts, and the Marin Museum of Contemporary Art.    

Forest Sun’s music has been featured on MTV's Good Vibes, the Showtime Series The Big C, NBC’s Perfect Harmony, and three indie surf films: Land of Saints, A Common Thread and 5th Symphony Document. Forest also composed the original score for the feature documentary "Free Trip to Egypt". He has also had several cameo roles as an actor in independent cinema including playing a fireman in “Who’s there?” directed by Cassie Jaye and premiering at Tallgrass Film Festival.      

Forest’s songs appear on the benefit compilations Burning Heart, Songs for the Gulf (to raise money for cleaning up the oil spills) and Songs for Laura Vol 1 and Vol. 2 (to raise awareness for people with cancer and their families). You can also hear Sun on San Francisco’s favorite radio KFOG’s Local Scene.  Forest’s music has found it's way to Japan with the compilation album Dancing Again released on Buffalo Records and songs featured on the Surf Time Japanese compilations. 

The new album "Hey Magnolia" is an intoxicating blend of folk-bluegrass-country-soul with a poets sensibility that reach wide and touch deep. Songs you want to hear again. 

This album includes songs that are featured on Spotify’s Indie Bluegrass and Folk Pop, Pandora’s Today’s Tunesmiths and Troubadours, Apple Music’s Acoustic Chill, Amazon Music’s Breakthrough Folk, the Alternate Root’s Top Ten and Folk Alley. 

The short music film for the song Love That Keeps On Trying won Best Music Video at the Reel East Texas Film Festival and the Creative Spirit Award at Rockport Film Festival. 

The new album Hey Magnolia was produced with multi -instrumentalist Gawain Mathews and features chanteuse Lara Louise as well as national fiddle champion Luke Price. 

Last year saw Forest releasing a new song every month thanks to his Patreon supporters, releasing the album Follow The Love, playing coast to coast - 38 shows in 36 cities, an Official Showcase at Folk Alliance, Homestead Valley Music Festival, live radio appearances on KPFA, WDVX, WNCW, WDET, and Spotify monthly listeners growing to over 400k. 

This year brings a national tour including appearances at Festival International in Louisiana.

Forest continues to release a new song each month thanks to his supporters on Kickstarter & Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/forestsun).   

Forest resides in the Redwoods of Mill Valley, Ca when he is at home.

Show your support on Patreon for a new song every month

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