Follow The Love
Painted Sun, 2022
8/10
The San Francisco Bay singer-songwriter Forest Sun returns with 15 tunes of his diverse brand of gospel that welcomes friends on strings, harmony vocals, brass and plenty of different kinds of guitars.
“Follow The Love” opens the listen with warm acoustic guitar and poetic singing in the bare, folk-friendly climate, and “Wildflowers” continues with melodic banjo adding much to the rootsy flavor of the breezy setting.
Elsewhere, “Take Me Home” picks up the pace a bit with plenty of soul entering the agile drumming and smooth vocal harmonies, while “Have You Ever Seen The Rain?” puts a very fun spin on the classic with Sun’s version of Americana radiating bright.
Closer to the end, “Magpie”, a murder ballad, brings Gabe Witcher on fiddle and Mike Witcher on dobro as the haunting moments are met with much grace, and “Sleepyhead” exits the listen upbeat, dance-friendly and with a retro-jazz spirit.
An artist with a large bag of influences and who’s got plenty of stories to tell, whether this is your first experience of you’re a longtime fan, you’re going to want to hear more.
Travels well with: Peter Mulvey- There Is Another World; Mason Jennings- Real Heart