When Bill was 5 years old, he went to his grandparents 40th anniversary party and saw his uncle perform. Larry, who wrote songs for superstars like Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton, pulled his nephew up on stage to sing and play the piano.
Forness says that his earliest and fondest memory is that. I liked being up on that stage. I wanted to play and sing with him, but I didn’t know how to do that.
At 21 years of age, Forness signed with a label. He toured a bit and released a record. The collapse of the record label caused him to change gears.
He says that MTV wasn’t on the table much anymore.
The bad news is that he had a weakness for food. He blended his two loves by performing in area restaurants after working in various restaurants for more than a decade. It was impossible to cook in the kitchen while simultaneously singing in the dining room because he loved doing that. A respected chef offered to introduce Forness to his colleagues at the prestigious country club. His chance was to move up the ladder in the kitchen. He needed to pick one of the two passions because they both require plenty of energy. Forness chose to pursue a music career.
He started singing a variety of music daily at the Chase Park Plaza, a well-known hotel. Some Johnny Cash songs were thrown in. Fans asked if he could learn more from the Man in Black.
Being an acoustic guitar player and a lover of storytellers, Forness naturally gravitates towards Cash’s music and performance style.
He says that he is a unique story teller within his songs. Think of the movie ‘A Boy named Sue’. He also has some fun songs, like ‘Ring of Fire’ and ‘Jackson’.
June Carter was Cash’s wife, and Forness’ mother was named after her.
She liked the classic country music that I sang and thought I had a voice for it, more so than the rock-and-roll stuff I was trying to sing. She was right.
Forness had an idea to recreate Cash’s Folsom State Prison concert of 1968, complete with handmade jail cells and hired actors to play the prison guards.
According to Forness, he hired someone to play Carl Perkins, four men to play the Statler Brothers, and four women to be the Carter Sisters, a quartet consisting of Maybelle Carter and her daughters June, Helen andAnita. It was just about to start when the world stopped.
Forness had to change course again. He and his wife sold their house and moved to Florida in their RV. In order to make ends meet, he took side jobs like delivering groceries and working for an air conditioning business. He was able to perform outdoors in a few places.
Forness and his wife thought they would be living in the RV for three to four months in the winter. We will have lived in it for two years. We are not complaining because this vehicle has taken us all over the country to put on shows.
Forness says they interact with the audience.
They have been to 22 states in the last two years, staying at RV parks and campgrounds. They drive when they are not performing. They are hooking up to a new campground when they aren’t driving.
“Our RV has big stickers that say, ‘Bill Forness: A tribute to Johnny Cash,’ so we are constantly talking to people and taking pictures outside of the bus,” Forness says.
Since the Folsom Prison show isn’t currently possible, Forness has been performing “Bill Forness: A tribute to Johnny Cash,” which showcases Cash’s music career and personal life.
Forness starts with the 1950s and goes through the decades of Cash’s music, sharing with the audience what it has been like to pay tribute to Cash for 13 years. Johnny has become an enormous part of my life and we are nowhere near slowing down.
Forness performs over 200 shows a year. His voice is like a muscle and he can handle it.
He says you want to maintain it in a healthy way. The tears will need to heal and you don’t want to strain them. It is better to use than lose it. Johnny’s music comes very natural to me because my voice is in a low register.
Audience members will request certain songs when Forness plays fan favorites during his two one-hour sets. Cash recorded over 1,500 songs.
He’s on a 65-city tour. There is a stop at the VFW Post 1170 in Louisville on October 15, starting at 7 pm. The food will be available at the restaurant. The VFW Post sells tickets seven days a week.
A snowbird who saw Forness perform in Florida heard about the show from John Miller, who booked the show for the VFW. The person gave Dawn the VFW number and asked her to call them if they were ever in the area.
Miller says that Dawn called him out of the blue. She said that she and her husband would be in the Midwest in the fall and had an open weekend. I said yes after she asked if I was interested.
The show appeals to all ages.
He regularly performs at assisted-living and nursing facilities because he has seen the impact music has on residents.
According to Forness, music is the last thing to leave them because they have had residents who won’t speak for months, but will sing along to songs.
Forness and his wife started a nonprofit called Music for Life enrichment to help raise funds to put music into nursing homes.
Johnny Cash is considered to be the quintessential musician because he covered it all. He did a lot of dark and light content. It was a phenomenal career.
jcashtribute.com has more information.
