Andy J. Forest (Born May 10th, 1955 in Pullman, Washington, USA) is an American harmonica player, guitarist, singer. He grew up near Pasadena, California, USA. Also studied violin, bass, and saxophone. Moved to New Orleans, Louisiana, USA in 1974. Andy has been playing harmonica, guitar and singing professionally since 1977. Moved to Europe in 1977 and lived there for 14 years, returning home to New Orleans in 1991 where he plays in clubs and frequently goes on tour in Europe and Canada. Early influences were Sonny Terry, Little Walter Jacobs, Sonny Boy Williamson, James Cotton, Paul Butterfield, Taj Mahal, and Charlie Musselwhite. He has played on stage with B.B. King, Bobby Blue Bland, Johnny Shines, Champion Jack DuPree, James Booker, and many others. He has written scores of songs, one novel which was published in 3 languages (Letter From Hell) and paints “outside” art, mostly of blues and jazz singers. Andy’s CD “Real Stories Of Love, Labor, And Other Man-made Catastrophes” for Slang Records won “Best Blues Album” of 2007 in the Best of The Beat Awards of New Orleans. Between 1985 and 1990 Andy acted in a dozen films for mostly Italian productions doing supporting and lead roles. As of October 2010 he began making videos and short films professionally.
