Forbert played guitar and harmonica in local rock bands before moving to New York in 1976. There he busked at Grand Central Station before making his first recordings in 1977 for Nemperor and was briefly heralded as ‘the new [ Bob ] Dylan’ because of the tough poetry of his lyrics. Forbert’s biggest commercial success came when he had a Top 20 hit with ‘Romeo’s Tune’ (1979). After four albums, his major label contract was terminated. For most of the 80s and 90s, Forbert was based in Nashville, songwriting and playing concerts around the South with a touring group including Danny Counts (bass), Paul Errico (keyboards) and Bobby Lloyd Hicks (drums). His 1988 album for Geffen Records had Garry Tallent from Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band as producer. Nils Lofgren was a guest musician.

After a four-year gap, Forbert returned with the highly-praised The American In Me, produced by Pete Anderson. He switched labels once again to record Mission Of The Crossroad Palms (1995) and Rocking Horse Head (1996), two well-crafted collections of mature, roots rock material that confirmed Forbert as one of America’s most celebrated singer-songwriters. He also began to attract the attention of the burgeoning alt country movement, and responded to the challenge with 2000’s excellent studio album Evergreen Boy and the following year’s Live At The Bottom Line, both on the Koch label. In 2002, Forbert recorded an album’s worth of songs associated with Meridian’s most famous musical son, Jimmie Rodgers. “Any Old Time” included an excellent rock ‘n’ roll version of ‘My Rough And Rowdy Ways’. Just Like There’s Nothin’ To It (2004) and Strange Names & New Sensations (2007) were pedestrian albums by Forbert’s standards.