Brendan Forrest is an award-winning Americana artist from the Northside of Chicago who traded his urban life for the pastoral landscape of Southwest Colorado. 

This geographic change reflects his transition from an internationally respected eclectic producer to a first-rate acoustic flatpicking guitarist, renowned folk songwriter, and an authority in the Americana genre. 

Raised on a crossroads of influences: the urban blues of Chicago, Irish-American Celtic music, folk and psychedelic rock music of the 70s, he later discovered jazz and bluegrass while at University and “world” music while studying abroad. 

A self-imposed outlier when it comes to conventional scenes, Forrest spent many of his formative years contributing to Chicago's underground indie arts movements — moving around in true nomadic troubadour fashion, playing countless shows that spanned across four continents (North America, Europe, Africa, and Southeast Asia). 

Over the past decade, Forrest has shed his young electric roots to pursue his long-standing passion for traditional folk and bluegrass music. Today, Brendan is often described as “a rising star” amongst the ranks of the Americana music scene as he continues to grow fans with his signature sound. Forrest can be found performing his original work throughout Colorado and Illinois — along with its neighboring states.

With his forthcoming release, Forrest debuted in the ascendancy in both performance and composition of contemporary Americana / indie-bluegrass with his “grit-soul” take on the genre.