If you come to Austin, Texas and don’t experience a Guy Forsyth performance, you’re depriving yourself of a brilliant and signature Austin-grown and world-traveled musician. ....
True story: I first say The Guy Forsyth Band in March of 2007 when he played a double bill with Ruthie Foster. I hadn’t heard of him, and hesitated at the door to buy both tickets. Who is this Guy Forsyth guy? I asked the doorman. He pointed to a framed photograph of Guy on the wall and said: “A genius.”....
“If you stay for two songs, you’ll be more than happy you stayed before the second song is over.” Well, he was only wrong about the number of songs. I was already convinced before the first song’s end.....
The first song was a blues number with an acoustic guitar, and Guy has one hell of a set of vocal chords and picking fingers. Of course I’m scrambling the straight facts because I write this in 2010, but he did switch genres and instruments with each song for the first set. He went from acoustic guitar to electric guitar, singing a capella and hand clapping to playing a saw. Yes, a metal saw with a violin bow. His bag of tricks included a ukulele and a steel guitar (not the pedal/lap kind... the slide kind..) and then there was my favorite of all.. in my opinion his very best instrument—the harmonica. He owns that thing. And I stayed for both sets.....
And then I busted my ass for him to gig in Vermont in 2008. True story. When I came back to Vermont for one last go-round, I asked myself, if I could relive any one night of Austin music, which would it be? The clear answer was the Guy Forsyth Band. I made it happen. I contacted his management, booked a funky Vermont bar, did all the PR, had the slap-happy pleasure and honor of hosting an in-studio with the band on WRUV-FM.. and successfully connected The Guy Forsyth Band to the Burlington, Vermont area.....
Guy’s music is often rooted in the blues, but not always—he and bandmates Will Landin (bass guitar, sousaphone) and Rob Hooper (drums, cajon) (OK did you read those instruments? go back..) as I was saying, Guy and his band can and will mess your head—they can go from blues-rock to a folkier ballad to vaudeville to Mississippi Delta blues to straight-up rock to a country-tinged heart-breaker to Tin Pan Alley and the truth is: you can’t categorize the music as a whole. One of his recent album titles, Unrepentant Schizophrenic Americana, captures it best.....
I’ve seen the band play now quite a number of times over the years— and no two Guy Forsyth Band performances are the same. Guy may or may not show all of his colors during one given gig. But by now you can understand why I’d want to start the New Year, heck a new decade, seeing the Guy Forsyth Band. Apparently January 1 was Rob Hooper’s last gig with the band, which makes me go frown face a little because they are such a tight trio (I think they joined forces in 2006), but change can be a regular part of art, and life......
The GF Band played at Gruene Hall in New Braunfels, one of the oldest and best dance halls in Texas. I packed myself one Jon Clinkenbeard in the car and off we went. This was possibly my favorite performance of the GF Band.. The band had all their feathers on full display, and then some—they borrowed an electric guitar player from the Asylum Street Spankers (a band Guy co-founded back in the 90’s), a mystery trumpet player, (someone on keys? Am I making this up?) and kick-ass blueswoman Carolyn Wonderland. My head was swirling so much I can’t really tell you what exactly they played, except I do know one song was a Janis Joplin cover and the next to last song lasted 15 minutes with ripping solos from each of the players. Carolyn is stunningly talented on both vocals and guitar musicianship, and she made a perfect complement to Guy.. in the best sense of the word, her guitar-playing was downright dirty.. and brought us all to a naughty blues place that even Guy doesn’t usually touch. ....
I can’t think of a better way to start off 2010—seeing two of Austin’s best blues musicians together in an old Texas dance hall! Gonna be a good year......
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