Each Measure Feature: Brendan Forrest

FEATURE

With his debut bluegrass EP, Daydreaming Music Fiend, Brendan Forrest has blended traditional bluegrass with his personal musical background. Recorded in Nashville, Forrest has a great lineup of artists on the EP with him, from Grammy-winning Dominick Leslie to IBMA winner George Jackson. Forrest draws on his expansive life experiences, from a busker through Europe to playing with African musicians, to find an intriguing mixture of music for Daydreaming Music Fiend. Live-recorded and stripped down, the EP has a lot of heart and history with nods to Americana, blues, and even Celtic music.

The opening track of the EP, Rice’s Rag, immediately stood out as an instrumental track. It’s not as often these days to hear a song composed entirely of the music, but Forrest chose to let the dual fiddles do the talking and it was great. Other tracks, like “Lowdown Stray Dog Blues” and “Song for John Prine,” brought emotional depth to the EP with Forrest’s knack for storytelling. The roughness of his voice added rawness to those tracks and they really worked for me. As the EP progresses over nine songs, listeners are taken on the musical journey that Forrest has lived, which is one of inspiration and creativity.

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