Steve Forbert pulled into the Old Rock House last Thursday night as part of their Listening Room Series. If you remember Steve Forbert at all, it’s for his almost top-ten hit ‘Romeo’s Tune’, a poppy gem from 1980, or perhaps his cameo as label-mate Cyndi Lauper’s bewildered date that shows up at the end of the ‘Girls Just Wanna Have Fun’ video.
Much more than a one-hit wonder, Forbert has a catalog of tunes, especially his first run with Nemperor in the late-70s/early-80s and his first ‘come back’ – two solid albums for Geffen in the late 80s/early 90s – that has placed him in my personal Top Ten of singer/song writers and ranks him as one of the most under-rated purveyors of that breed. Forbert was the last of the media-dubbed ‘New Dylans’, earning himself a shout-out in Loudon Wainwright III’s ‘Talking New Bob Dylan’. I try to catch him (failing more than I’ve succeeded) whenever he’s in town. Paul joined me for this particular evening. I had a spare ticket and thought I’d keep it in the singer/songwriter guild. I think he left as a new Steve Forbert fan.
After a few awkward minutes on stage for a final check of sound and placement of harmonicas (no green room/no harp techs here), Forbert kicked off into ‘Thinking’ from his debut effort of nearly 35 years ago. An effortless, if unflashy, acoustic guitarist and full-on folkie harmonica player, Forbert mixed early with new with a few covers (especially fellow Mississippian Jimmie Rodgers), taking requests for one three song set (hint to live performers: have the audience shout out a lot of requests and pick the three you were going to play anyhow).
That yielded The Oil Song.
Written in 1977, the full version now tops a dozen verses of which Forbert played four – all about spills that have happened since the song was originally put to vinyl. On top of new verses to old songs, the new material played off his last album, “Over With You”, and last-decade live staples like “Autumn This Year” shows the man to still have a potent pen.
Despite sounding great with a full ensemble (his 25th anniversary DVD features Springfield’s own The Morells/Skeletons as his backing band), Forbert’s stated preference (and probably financial necessity) is to travel solo. Not so much a warning as a template for rock-n-rollers who, like all, must age, gracefully or not, (and I really don’t want this blog to end up as ‘aged rock stars as metaphor for life’ despite the Chuck Berry review), Forbert seems comfortable with where he’s ended up. (Hell, even the ‘Old Dylan’ is not the old Dylan anymore). But then again he saw it coming in the 80s as he explained when he sang ‘I Blinked Once’:
The 70s was ten long years
Ten long years to sing a song
It kicked off with a New Years’ cheer
I blinked once and it was gone
He finished his ‘non-encore’ set (again, the lack of a backstage makes for an awkward transition from show to encore at the Old Rock House) with ‘Romeo’s Tune’ and closed the night with the rocker that closed his first album “Alive on Arrival” – a message for everyone hoping to follow their dream as Forbert has followed his – ‘You Cannot Win If You Do Not Play’.
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