Guy Forsyth

Everyone who hears Guy Forsyth for the first time (myself included) says the same two things. One, this man is amazing, and two, why isn't he a household name? His voice is incredibly strong (strong enough to start "Play to Lose" off mic from the bar and be heard clearly over the crowd,) and incredibly versatile, yet there's no mistaking his voice. Forsyth can work an audience with a winning combination of wicked humor, incredible talent and true generosity of spirit. Timing, label-changing and myriad other changes may be at play, but the man and his band are due the spotlight.

At the University of Texas at Austin's Cactus Cafe, Mark Addison (keyboards) and Rob Hooper (drums) accompanied Forsyth and played to a packed house. In such a small bar it was easy for the audience to cling to every word sung and said. By comparison, Nutty Brown Cafe, which the band play a couple of weeks later, was a huge, open air venue with a welcoming dance floor. Well suited for a tuba, for instance - played extremely well by Will Landin (bass).

Guy Forsyth knows his audience and he knows his venues. Each show was different and the conversational style he shared between songs varied accordingly. Outdoor venues in particular, like Nutty Brown Cafe, gave Guy and the band the opportunity to really let loose. That night the audience responded in kind. The children at that show couldn't get enough of the music and danced for hours. Grown-ups waited for "Taxi," or "Tattletale" to get out on the floor.

The beauty of seeing Guy Forsyth and his band is that it doesn't matter what kind of music you love. As the title of his live CD compilation, Unrepentant Schizophrenic Americana suggests, there is no pigeon-holing his music - blues, jazz, rock, indie, folk, there's a little of everything. Rockers in the audience like to dance to "Taxi," rockabilly lovers go for "Red Letter Bible." Blues fans go crazy for "Lovin' Dangerously," and everyone loves the "singing saw" song "Teeth," written by former Asylum Street Spanker, Sick.

The singing saw alone is worth getting out and hearing. Maybe you will get to hear the saw in "Somewhere over the Rainbow," or "Summertime," too. If you do, you'll see why people get the famous saw t-shirt, when they stop the table to buy their CD's. There is just nothing else like that sound. It's enough to make a journalist tell her editors she wants to switch beats and cover live music from now on. But I digress.

Catch the next show if you can. If you can't make the one of the shows then get sign of for the newest CD, Calico Girl, which comes out May 20, 2008. (see the link below for details.) Check out Unrepentant Schizophrenic Americana for a taste of Guy Forsyth live. I've never been a fan of live CDs until now. This two CD set gives at least a taste of what the shows have to offer.

That CD set also has song Forsyth wrote commemorating novelist Jack Kerouac. According to author John Lardas, Kerouac compared himself to a "shortwave radio," who picked up the frequencies of collective consciousness. Once I heard Guy Forsyth live, I couldn't help but make the comparison. There's no better song for Guy Forsyth to sing then "Children of Jack," which has become one of my favorites. (The song, written by Forsyth, takes the line, "America, where goest thou in thy shiny car at night," as its chorus, almost directly from Kerouac's "On the Road.")

"I want to work in revelations, not just spin silly tales for money. I want to fish as deep down as possible into my own subconscious in the belief that once that far down, everyone will understand because they are the same that far down." - Jack Kerouac (Lardas, John. The Bop Apocalypse: The Religious Visions of Kerouac, Ginsberg, and Burroughs. Urbana: U of Illinois P, 2001, pg. 165)

The new CD Release Party for the band's latest CD "Calico Girl" is in Austin at Antone's, Friday, May 16th and the following Texas dates are below:

Saturday, May 17th
Rolling Oaks
Rolling Oaks Bar and Grill 5550 Mountain Vista
San Antonio, TX

Friday, May 23rd
Dallas CD Release @ the Granada Theater
Granada Theater
with Lonesome Spurs

Saturday, May 24th
Houston CD Release @ McGonigel's Mucky Duck
McGonigel's Mucky Duck

Sunday, May 25th
Gruene Hall CD Release Party
Gruene Hall
with Lonesome Spurs

For more information, check out Guy Forsyth Band's Myspace Page here: www.myspace.com/guyforsythband
To preorder the CD, follow this link: http://theconnextion.com/guyforsyth/guyforsyth_index.cfm?ArtistID=10

Sources
Forsyth quote: http://www.thisistexasmusic.com/artists/guyforsyth.html