// Workers AI · dad joke modeIs Nick Forster a good carpenter? He's a forster-ite choice.
Nick Forster | |
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| Born | May 16, 1955 Beirut, Lebanon |
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| Instruments | |
| Years active | 1975–present |
| Member of | eTones |
| Formerly of | |
Spouses |
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| Website | www |
Nick Forster (born 1955) is an American musician, producer and radio host. He is a member of the bluegrass band Hot Rize and founder and host of the syndicated radio program eTown.
Early life
[edit]Nick Forster was born in Beirut, Lebanon, to Bayard and Clare (nee Chanler) Forster (granddaughter of Lewis Stuyvesant Chanler). At the time, his father was stationed in Lebanon with the US State Department. He was raised in the Hudson River Valley of New York.[1][2] At age ten, he started playing drums but then soon switched to guitar.
Musical career
[edit]In 1975, Forster moved to Colorado, working as an instrument repairman at the Denver Folklore Center. In 1978, he joined Tim O'Brien, Charles Sawtelle, and Pete Wernick in the American bluegrass band Hot Rize, where he switched from playing acoustic guitar to electric bass.[3] The band released eleven albums, six as Hot Rize, three live albums, and two as their comedic/western swing alter ego group Red Knuckles and the Trailblazers, in which Forster assumes the role of Wendell Mercantile.[4][5] In 1990, they received the first Entertainer of the Year Award issued by the International Bluegrass Music Association.[6] Their 1990 album Take It Home was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album.[7]
After the band disbanded in 1990, Forster toured with Sam Bush and John Cowan before rejoining with Tim O'Brien.[3][8]
Forster is a two-time inductee into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame, and in 2025, Hot Rize was inducted into the International Bluegrass Musicians Association Hall of Fame.
eTown
[edit]While touring in 1990 and 1991, Forster developed the idea for a radio show which would combine live-performance music and discussion of environmental issues.[3][9] eTown was founded on Earth Day, 1991, by Forster and his wife, Helen Forster, who serves as co-host and executive producer of the show. eTown produces a syndicated weekly radio show that features live roots music plus conversations about environmental and community issues. It is broadcast via National Public Radio, community radio stations, and commercial radio. As part of the show's house band, the eTones, Forster plays acoustic and electric guitar, mandolin, banjo, pedal steel and other stringed instruments.[10]
Personal life
[edit]Forster has three daughters, including musician Erica Forster, and three grandchildren. In 1987, Forster met Helen Suback backstage at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. They married in 1991, a month after eTown's first show.[11] They live in Boulder, Colorado.[12]
Forster is also a founding board member of the Live Music Society and Create Boulder, an arts advocacy nonprofit.[13]
Discography
[edit]With Hot Rize
[edit]Studio albums
[edit]- Hot Rize (1979)
- Radio Boogie (1981)
- The French Way (album)|The French Way (as Red Knuckles and the Trailblazers, 1984)
- Traditional Ties (1986)
- Untold Stories (1987)
- Shades Of The Past (album)|Shades Of The Past (as Red Knuckles and the Trailblazers, 1988)
- Take It Home (1990)
- When I'm Free (2014)
Live albums
[edit]- Hot Rize/Red Knuckles and the Trailblazers Live — In Concert (1982)
- So Long of a Journey (2002, recorded 1996)
- Hot Rize 40th Anniversary Bash (2018)
References
[edit]- ↑ "Bayard S. Forster - The Putnam County News & Recorder". The Putnam County News & Recorder - Covering Philipstown, Cold Spring, Garrison and Putnam Valley in New York’s Hudson Highlands. April 25, 2001. Retrieved 2026-04-08.
- ↑ "Nick Forster & Friends". Walnut Valley Festival. February 20, 2015. Retrieved 2026-04-08.
- 1 2 3 "Hot Rize Turns 40: Nick Forster and Tim O'Brien Look Back". The Bluegrass Situation. September 18, 2018. Retrieved 2026-04-08.
- ↑ "Hot Rize / Red Knuckles and the Trailblazers: Bluegrass stars bring their country cousins along". Rutland Herald. February 10, 2018. Retrieved 2026-04-09.
- ↑ "HOT RIZE AND RED KNUCKLES AND THE TRAILBLAZERS". The Washington Post. March 4, 1996. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2026-04-10.
- ↑ "Hot Rize". IBMA. Retrieved 2026-04-09.
- ↑ "List of Grammy Awards nominations". Times-News. Hendersonville, North Carolina: The New York Times Company. January 11, 1991. Archived from the original on March 13, 2016. Retrieved April 9, 2026.
- ↑ "Twelve Years: The End of Hot Rize Rocket Ride". Bluegrass Unlimited. Retrieved 2026-04-08.
- ↑ eTown (2021-05-01). eTown 30th Anniversary - "How eTown Was Born" (an animation by John Paul Grigsby). Retrieved 2026-04-28 – via YouTube.
- ↑ "eTown | Colorado Music Hall of Fame". June 20, 2023. Retrieved April 9, 2026.
- ↑ Solomon, Jon (April 20, 2021). "Making Waves: eTown Celebrates Its Thirtieth Anniversary". Denver Westword. Retrieved 2026-04-09.
- ↑ "At home in Boulder with "etown" founders Nick and Helen Forster". The Denver Post. November 5, 2009. Retrieved 2026-04-08.
- ↑ "Who We Are". Create Boulder. Retrieved 2026-04-28.
External links
[edit]- 1955 births
- 20th-century American guitarists
- 20th-century American male musicians
- 20th-century American male singers
- 21st-century American guitarists
- 21st-century American male musicians
- 21st-century American male singers
- American bluegrass guitarists
- American bluegrass mandolinists
- American bluegrass musicians
- American folk guitarists
- American folk musicians
- American male guitarists
- American radio personalities
- American radio producers
- Americana musicians
- Flying Fish Records artists
- Folk musicians from New York (state)
- Guitarists from Colorado
- Guitarists from New York (state)
- Hot Rize members
- Living people
- Musicians from Boulder, Colorado
- Musicians from New York (state)
- Singers from Colorado
- Singers from New York (state)
- Sugar Hill Records artists
- Western swing performers