“Everything is Falling” is the latest music video from Retro/Factory Underground recording artist Tom “The Suit” Forst, exclusively premiered by Elmore Magazine on April 4, 2020.
The song and video feature an outstanding performance by featured-vocalist Christine Ohlman, known as “The Beehive Queen.” Ohlman, who leads the band Christine Ohlman and Rebel Montez, is the long-running vocalist with Saturday Night Live Band, and appears annually at the W.C. Handy Music Festival in Florence/Sheffield/Muscle Shoals, Alabama. The cinematic “Everything is Falling” was filmed at the historic Wall Street Theater in downtown Norwalk, CT, directed by Marc Alan and John Shlyoski, the Factory Underground team that directed Forst’s video for his song “Late Night Train.”
“World of Broken Hearts,” Forst’ latest EP that includes the blues rock “Everything is Falling,” was recorded at Factory Underground Studios and produced by Ethan Isaac. The album which has earned high praise from American Blues Scene and Maximum Volume magazines, features performances by guest musicians including Ohlman, Grammy-winning guitarist Paul Nelson (Johnny Winter), guitarist Ryan Hommel (Amos Lee Band,) drummer Travis McNabb (Better Than Ezra, Sugarland), blues harp player James Montgomery, and vocalist Tiffany T’Zelle.
“Serendipity shined on me right after I started back in the music world 11 years ago - I met Christine (Ohlman) who helped me hone my vocal skills, and mentored me through the new music business. Since that time we have become friends, sometimes performing together and doing studio sessions. I can’t tell you how thrilled I was when she readily agreed to join me to record the “Everything is Falling,” a song I wrote when I was 17 years old. She is an icon, and of course, she did an amazing job on the song and the video,” said Forst.
Now 68 years of age, Tom Forst is a former Vice President at Cox Media, which is the root of his professional-nickname “The Suit.” He left that world at the age of 57, giving his notice exactly one day after paying the last college tuition bill for his youngest child. It was time to return to his first love of music.
“It’s not that I ever stopped playing, but I was working my way up the ladder, putting food on the table, taking care of my family. I would take a redeye back home from anywhere in the country if it meant making it to a gig. But I always knew that one day I would return to music full time, and when the time seemed right, I jumped in with both feet,” Forst said.
“Not the soundest financial decision I ever made,” he says with a laugh. “But I’ve never looked back.”
When he is not recording and performing, Tom Forst, an inducted member of the Connecticut and New York Blues Hall of Fame, is the host of a popular blues podcast called Chasing the Blues. Season One of the podcast which wrapped in December 2019, 50 episodes in all, featured interviews with other blues artists including Mike Zito, Anthony Gomes, Joe Louis Walker, Dana Fuchs and others. The podcast, which has been endorsed by the Blues Foundation, and sponsored by Blues Festival Guide magazine, will launch its second season in April, 2020.