Stories & Songs: Forrest McCurren in Concert

Forrest McCurren returns for an evening of songs and stories, with himself on guitar and Margaret McCurren on fiddle.

Forrest was a featured artist on CBS and Paramount's The Road, airing October 19, 2025, and released his new album "Small Prayers, Big Blessings" in November 2025.

Forrest McCurren is a road dog. You hear it in his songs. The grit. The gears. The unexpected turns that produce a favorite mantra: You got to get lost to get found. His delivery is a pearl-snap shirt on a Saturday night, a Prinelike glimpse into sticky life, sycamore sweet in the Texas heat, sparkling in the Ozarks sun where the sacred Osage flows into the Missouri River.

He raises a beer to trailer park lovers with matching tatoos and waitresses wise beyond their barstools. His ballads salute good people who got bad grades in school, drunk on dreams, still trying to figure out if life is sour or sweet. Then he drives off in a van that looks like it might be your plumber.

Every road is a road home for somebody. McCurren’s latest album, “Small Prayers, Big Blessings” captures both road and home. “There’s a rowdiness that comes from the road and then there’s a thoughtfulness when we’re off the road, getting back home and putting in context how much you love your family, wanting to be of service to them, wanting to slow down and be present, more present than when you're out traveling.”

Equally at home quoting Shakespeare and the Bible, McCurren’s pluck and dirt songwriting prompted Blake Shelton and Taylor Sheridan to stick him in the lineup to compete in the series, “The Road,” which premiered October 2025 on CBS. That’s a feather in his cap.

“You’re getting paid to see the world,” he reasons. “It’s not all sunshine. It does wear you down, this crazy lifestyle. But you know, you play music you don’t work music. It’s something that feels like a calling. There’s a lot easier ways to make grocery money. But it’s a great way to spend your days.”