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Artist
Carmaig de Forest
12+ albums
alternativerockpoliticalpost-punk
about
Carmaig de Forest (born 9 September 1957) is an American singer-songwriter on the ukulele and guitar. Fascinated with rock 'n' roll from an early age, de Forest first began composing songs on the ukulele in the early 1980s, and has since become a respected underground cult artist. His satirical, political and personal compositions have been covered by other artists, most notably Canadian accordionist Geoff Berner. De Forest is himself a renowned re-interpreter of songs by Bob Dylan, having appeared on several bootleg compilations of covers of Dylan songs. Carmaig de Forest was born in 1957; as a youth, he attended the University of California in Santa Cruz, studying to become a stage actor and director. In 1978, he attended a directing workshop led by Spalding Gray, which convinced him that his true ambition was not to act, but rather, create theatrical material based on his own life. Enamored with rock 'n' roll as well as the rising punk lifestyle, de Forest aspired instead to become a musician. The only musical instrument available for him at the time was a ukulele that he had bought for his dorm room; inspired by his own personal experiences and political point of view, de Forest began composing songs on the ukulele. De Forest's began his career as the lead vocalist of Santa Cruz punk group Art and the Paganhearts, founded in 1980; another member of the group was frequent future collaborator Dan Olmsted. The band ultimately dissolved the next year with no released recor
