Forest Counties is releasing a new live album, yet it’s comprised of only two tracks.
Each track is made up of a full set recorded in different open tunings, with one recorded at the SLB Radio holiday party in the Children’s Museum in December and the other at Government Center on Pittsburgh’s North Side in early February.
“My general approach for these shows was to play one continuous theme for the entirety of the set,” guitarist Eric Stevens said. “I think I was channeling the longer John Fahey/Robbie Basho pieces, namely ‘Fare Forward Voyagers’ and ‘Cathedrals et Flur de Lis,’ respectively.”
The album’s title of “Creek Embouchure” holds some significance, according to Stevens.
“‘Embouchure’ meaning: opening of a river. Both live sets opening for good buddies, local folk-rock superstars Clear Creek SP,” he said. “It was on my shortlist to set up a gig to play with Benji of CCSP, and we kind of did an incidental show share where I was able to get them on the SLB Radio holiday party show and they were able to get me on the February Government Center gig. Solid times playing with them. Be on the lookout for CCSP: This is the year the creek rises.”
Forest Counties will perform on April 22 at Mattress Factory, opening for Whitney Johnson, Lia Kohl and Macie Stewart.
“I think losing sense of space and time while performing to transcend with the audience is the most rewarding,” Stevens said. “A lot of people have been responding to the meditative, mesmerizing qualities of the set, the more hypnotic sections of the music. Since it is only instrumental and meanders slowly, I think it helps elicit images and memories from people rather than the music forcing imagery or ideas onto the listener. It provides an openness for people to free-think while listening; it’s cool to provide a space for people to do that together.”
Live shows create an opportunity for spontaneity unlikely to be duplicated elsewhere.
“The Forest Counties trio set in January was a little off-the-rails in a beautiful, uninhibited way. We decided to headline for a more open time slot than the usual less than 25 minutes we usually play,” Stevens said. “There was a moment Eli was choking his high hat stand that drew comparisons to Homer ringing out Bart’s neck in ‘The Simpsons’ and with the accompanying feedback guitar squeals sounded as if Beaker from ‘The Muppets’ was being strangled.
“We had a mic for my 12-string acoustic on stage that our friend and sound person, Joe Praksti, was able to push and pull from what I was calling the Feedback Control Center. Reid also used this mic to do some long, sustaining yowling. The set became very theatrical, performance art. Towards the end Eli was dismantling his kit musically into a percussion stew, cooking in the pot of his flipped over bass drum.”
Stevens filled in TribLive on what else we should know about Forest Counties:
Band: Forest Counties
Band members: Eric Stevens (12-string acoustic guitar) in collaboration with Eli Weidman (percussion), Reid Magette (electric guitar) and John Gornati (dobro).
Founding story: The project launched in summer 2025 after a session of 12-string, dobro and percussion were recorded on 4-track tape recorder the previous winter. I was in a band with my good friend Vince Angelo before this called Wisbands, which also housed my solo-collaborative, American primitive guitar, lofi home-recording series: Blue Pine, which he also tracked on. I decided to move that side of my personal music to its own project name after Wisbands went into indefinite hiatus when Vince became a father a couple years ago.
The live trio version of the band with Eli on percussion and Reid on electric guitar began summer 2023, playing the Agave Party 300th episode showcase at Government Center under I4A, Reid’s collaborative project. We did another I4A trio set in December 2024 and released “Blue Pine Vol. 3,” launching Forest Counties before a trio show last September at the Acoustic Music Works opening week.
Origin of band’s name: The project name is a play on Forest County, the county at the heart of the Allegheny National Forest in Pennsylvania. The concept was to commonize the proper noun, to make it sound more collective, to bring your woods to the table. John Gornati and I grew up in nearby Elk County, Eli from Morgantown, W.Va., and Reid from Virginia. I enjoy that neighboring backgrounds of Appalachia are called upon to create this music.
For fans of: 1982, Hayden Pedigo, Dirty Three, John Fahey, Old Saw, William Tyler, transcendental guitar music, slacker folk, indoor smoking bars
Influences: Robbie Basho, Can, Marisa Anderson, Guided by Voices, Jeff Parker, The Clean, Loren Connors, Yo La Tengo, 1 (one) beer
Releases: “Creek Embouchure” album, April 2026; “Blue Pine Vol. 4” album, January 2026; “Blue Pine Vol. 3” album, 2025
Next show:April 22 at Mattress Factory with Whitney Johnson, Lia Kohl and Macie Stewart
How to find them: Forest Counties can be found on Bandcamp and Instagram.
Three other Pittsburgh area bands to check out:Clear Creek SP, Tory Silver, Christine
Favorite pizza shops: Mineo’s, Spak, Sal’s, Pizza Care, Giovanni’s
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