Forrest McDonald

Songs From My Soul

World Talent Records

Forrest McDonald’s career began six decades ago. Originally from Austin, Texas, his family  moved to Rhode Island when Forrest was fifteen. He gained a reputation playing in ‘The Ox Bow Incidents’ and was a member of ‘The Boston Rock Symphony’ with his friend James Montgomery, playing a fusion of rock and classical music throughout New England. At the  age of twenty he toured with Wadsworth Mansion. Forrest moved to Los Angeles and formed the band ‘Slingshot’ and played gigs at The Whiskey and The Starwood, both clubs on Sunset Strip. He moved to Muscle Shoals, Alabama and worked with the Muscle Shoals Rhythm  Section, backing both Bob Seger and Bobby Womack. Forrest’s guitar solos can be heard on Seger’s hit ‘Old Time Rock and Roll’. Real Blues Magazine awarded Forrest McDonald and the 3D Blues Band ‘Best Southern Blues Band’ in 1999, 2000, and 2001. He also received a  ‘Just Plain Folks Music Award’ for Best Blues Album for ‘Spirit of the Blues’. His 1999 song ‘Work, Work’ won ‘Best Blues Song’ in 2000 and in 2006 Forrest won that award again for ‘Going Back To Memphis’. Forrest now resides in Richmond, Virginia.

This is Forrest McDonald’s sixteenth album overall. His two best albums may be 1995’s ‘I Need You’ and 2020’s ‘Blues In A Bucket”. Included are eleven originals written by Forrest, two co-writes, and two covers. There are thirteen songs performed solo and two songs  performed with a band.

On the first of the originals “On Your Life’s Road”, Forrest plays guitar as he sings, “going down on your life’s road…speakin’ about my family, I left them all alone, it’s time to stand for something….on your life’s road”. “Blue Mood” is the first of the two covers, written by Jesse Mae Robinson a.k.a. Jessie Mae Booker (her most famous song was “Let’s Have A Baby” recorded by both Elvis Presley and Wanda Jackson), as Forrest sings “I guess I’ll go out walkin’, I’ll see the blue mood comin’ on…everytime I hear that music…it takes  me back to my woman, it’s about to drive me insane…I got to keep on smiling so folks will think I’m satisfied”.

On “I Can’t Stop The Love” Forrest cries “she makes the sun shine on a cloudy day…like  a good wine she takes my troubles away…we have such good times makin’ sweet  memories…I can’t stop the love that’s in my heart”. “Take My Hand”, “breakin’ down those walls…so baby, take my hand…I’m not gonna’ judge you girl, it’s a crazy mixed up world… take my hand…you’ll never be alone, we are family, take my hand”.

“Spirit in The Night” is the first of the two co-writes as Forrest chants ” there’s a spirit in the night…I can feel it in the air…my silent partner, spirit in the night…it takes my breathe  and leaves me breathless, my silent partner, a spirit in the night”. “I Need You” is the title  track from the 1995 album of the same name, “it stirs those memories inside of me, can’t you see I Need You by my side…I need you deep inside…to keep me satisfied…you look  so good, you put my rocket ship in flight…I need you”.

“A Girl Like You”, Forrest chimes “it takes a girl like you to make a guy like me…take a  little step closer to me…don’t walk away, it takes a girl like you to make my dreams come true…it takes a girl like you”. On “The Next Time”, Forrest belts out “when you come  around, everytime I told you, you said I was crazy…I won’t come to you next time…this time I’m walkin’ out the door, I won’t come to you next time”.

“That’s How I Want Our Love” is the second co-write, a walkin’ blues, “mostly love has  brought me down on my knees, if you believe in me, that’s how I want our love to be”. “Make Love Not War” ” we’re on the verge of world war III, it doesn’t make any sense to me, I just want to spend the day in the sun…too much fear, too much hate…let’s make  love not war”.

“Blue Morning Sun”, Forrest moans “I took my band to Memphis to play some down home blues.. I got a call my brother he’s gone, he passed away…the sky is so grey…he took  what life gave and never complained”. On “I Had A Dream” Forrest sings “I moved to the city in the drivin’ rain…I had a dream last night…I looked to the ocean in a hurricane…I had a dream last night the whole world had changed”.

On the first of two band songs “Misery and Blues”, Forrest, guitar and vocals; is  accompanied by Matthew Wauchope, piano; Jimmy King, trumpet; Norman Franks, sax; Pix Ensign, harmonica; Lee Gammon, bass; and John McKnight, drums, as Forrest howls “the whole world ‘s gone crazy and it’s filled with misery…there is just pain everywhere I see…I just want to live our lives without so much misery and pain”. The second band song “I Wish I May”, includes Jim Scarlett, Hammond B-3; Ron Benner, bass; and Terrell Sass,  drums, as Forrest chirps “I’m working hard everyday to make things right…no matter what I do I come up short…we plan for the future, hope for a better life, everyday…every night wish I may, wish I might…through the darkness into the light”. On the closer, “Trouble In Mind”, written and recorded by Richard M. Jones in 1936, Forrest croons “trouble in mind, I’m blue…but I won’t be blue always, ’cause the sun gonna’ shine in my backdoor someday”.

“Songs From My Soul” is the first album from Forrest McDonald in five years. It was certainly worth the wait as we get to hear this mostly solo, folk and Americana  release. Like always this all-original Forrest McDonald album includes some nice surprises. This is highly  recommended listening.

Richard Ludmerer
Contributing Editor/Making A Scene

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