Forest Sun

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San Francisco Bay Area troubadour and award-winning songwriter, Forest Sun, enlivens audiences around the globe with his wealth of songs and stories, all sung and told with a laid-back California style. Sun's soulful music draws on a deep well of Americana and is compared to everyone from Jack Johnson, John Mayer and The Avett Brothers to Van Morrison and Bob Dylan. 

He's opened for Bonnie Raitt, The Beach Boys, Steve Earle, Lyle Lovett, Jackson Browne, Keb Mo and Brett Dennen among others and musical collaborations include Jolie Holland, Sean Hayes, ALO and Hot Buttered Rum. 

Forest Sun’s music is featured in film and television, including MTV's Good Vibes, the Showtime Series The Big C, and three surf films, Land of Saints, A Common Thread and 5th Symphony Document. Forest’s songs appear on the benefit CD Burning Heart, Songs for the Gulf (to raise money for cleaning up the oil spills) and Songs for Laura (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 Vol. 1 and 3.  Forest’s music has found it’s way to Japan with the CD Dancing Again released by Buffalo Records and songs featured on the Japanese compilations Surf Time 1 and 2.

Awards:
2012 - NAPPA honoree, Just for Fun 
2011 - Best Song Nominee, International Songwriting Competition with Trampoline.
2011 - Best Album, Kids Music Awards with Just for Fun, Songs for the Little Ones.
2011 - Best Song, Kids Music Awards with Trampoline
2009 - Best Song Nominee, Just Plain Folks Awards with Gurus and Rockstars.

2007 - 1st place, Pacific Song Writing Competition with Drops in the Ocean.
Video!

Discography: Just Begun, (coming 2012) Just for Fun, Songs for the little ones (2010), So Nice (2008), Harlequin Goodnight (2008), Walk through Walls (2005), For the Story (2003), Plenty (2001), Not Afraid (1999).

Producing credits:
Minneapolis song-writer Alex Goldfarb, the benefit CDs Songs for Laura Vol 1 and 2, the monthly Songbird Series at the Bazaar Cafe, Songbird Radio on KWMR and Transylvanian chanteuse, Ingrid Serban.

Forest Sun tours as an acoustic duo with Ingrid Serban singing harmonies and the full band includes David Phillips, dobro and lap steel, Steve Adams (ALO) / Elton Bradman, bass and Michael Messer, drums.

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.

Visit Ingrid's Official Website

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.
Visit Steve's Official Website

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  and Peter Rowan.

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!”