News: Forrest McDonald Updates

News: Forrest McDonald Updates

Forrest’s latest live video is of the 2024 Blues Music Awards Winners The Nick Moss Band w/ Dennis Gruenling at Anita Schlank’s House Party on 5/27/2024. Just 17 days after winning the 2024 Blues Music Awards for Band of the Year, I had a chance to catch up with Nick, Dennis, and the band at one of Anita Schlank’s house parties.

Author: Anita Schlank
Anita Schlank lives in Virginia and is on the Board of Directors for the River City Blues Society. She has been a fan of the blues since the 1980s. She and Tab Benoit co-authored the book “Blues Therapy,” with all proceeds from sales going to the HART Fund. She is also a writer for Blues Blast Magazine and frequently holds house parties for traveling musicians. Saturday 5/26/2025 was one such occasion.

Nick and his band were in fine form in this laid-back blues-loving audience. Anita provides a great spread of food, drinks, and desserts. There was plenty of time to talk with the guys. It turns out Dennis lives in North Hollywood a few blocks from where I lived when I first moved to LA in 1973.

I don’t have the names of the songs, but that does not dampen the great performance. My camera ran out of memory 4 times, and I was stuck deleting files quickly to get back in the action. Nick played on slow blues for nearly 8 minutes, and my camera died after 6:22. Such are the challenges with live recording. I touched up the color and added some transitions in my Final Cut Pro 10 studio.

Forrest McDonald News:

The Forrest McDonald Band’s last performance was on March 22, 2024. Since then, Forrest has been working on a solo act and writing new songs.
Forrest’s “Blues in a Bucket” tour was canceled due to the pandemic. Instead, he opted to perform at a few handpicked local venues over the following years.

Forrest unveiled “Blues in a Bucket” on World Talent Records in 2019, soaring to the second spot on the blues charts.

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