An Evening with Steve Forbert at Natalie’s Grandview

Steve Forbert’s folk-rock career has spanned four decades and counting. In June 1976, the 21-year-old boarded a train in Meridian, Mississippi bound for New York City, then the epicenter of folk music. His combination of musicianship and authenticity demanded notice. In less than two years, he went from being a street performer and living at the YMCA to filling historic Greenwich Village clubs and signing a major label record contract. From 1978 to 1982, Forbert released four acclaimed albums. Rolling Stone contributing editor David Wild wrote that “now or then, you would be hard-pressed to find a debut effort that was simultaneously as fresh and accomplished as it was like a great first novel by a young author who somehow managed to split the difference between Mark Twain and J.D. Salinger.” Anyone who reviews Steve’s catalogue of music can see the writer in the musician. His songs are as literary as they are musically vibrant. Brutally honest lyrics delivered with sensitivity create an uncommon trust with his listeners. Excelling in every decade of his career, Forbert exemplifies the best of the troubadour tradition.