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NICK FORSTER
etown host and co-executive producer Nick Forster is no stranger to the world of music. His illustrious career as a professional musician spans 25 years, including his time as a member of the world renowned bluegrass band Hot Rize, as a sideman with popular artists like David Wilcox and Michelle Shocked, and as leader of the highly respected, talented etown house band, the etones.
Born in Beirut in 1955 (his father worked for the State Department), Nick was raised in upstate New York. He started playing drums at age ten, but abandoned them in favor of his first guitar a year later. As a teen, he played in folk and folk-rock bands. His desire to pursue music as a career in the mid-seventies led him to Colorado, where he met up with the three young men who would join him in forming the contemporary bluegrass band Hot Rize in 1978. For the band, Nick supplied bass, vocals and guitar and was also well known for his exceptional ease and grace as the M.C. and host. He won recognition as a writer as well, earning praise from Rolling Stone Magazine as "an exceptional songwriter."
Hot Rize established an acclaimed international reputation, releasing ten albums and touring worldwide fulltime for over 12 years. The band appeared on countless radio and television programs, including Austin City Limits, The Grand Old Opry and Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion. Hot Rize earned both a Grammy nomination and the International Bluegrass Music Association's Entertainer of the Year Award in 1991. Ironically, in the face of this success, the band members collectively decided to pursue individual projects later that year and went into semi-retirement. While on a highly successful State tour in eastern Europe during this time, Nick conceived the idea of a new concept in radio, etown, the popular weekly radio variety show now heard coast-to-coast.
As etown's host, Nick leads a radio program that entices the audience with live performances from today's top musicians, then engages listeners with conversation and information about our communities and our environment. His warm on-air wit, stellar guitar playing and strong vocals are hallmarks of the show.
In addition to etown, Nick remains an active player in the music world, performing at major festivals and playing recording sessions for various artists like Big Head Todd and the Monsters and Kathy Mattea. He also is an accomplished record producer whose most recent project was nominated for a Grammy.
HELEN FORSTER
Helen Forster, a Minnesota native, has extensive experience both as an actress and a vocalist. After studying and performing theatre in Minneapolis, she moved to Telluride, Colorado and became a primary player as an actress, writer and producer with two professional theater companies: SRO, an improvisational comedy troupe modeled on Chicago's Second City and Plunge Players, a formal theater company led by L.A. director Paul Fagan. During this period, Helen also performed in radio theater productions, co-authored three children's musicals and honed her skills as a vocalist in the local music scene.
Since 1991, Helen has co-hosted the popular national radio program etown, a live music variety show with an emphasis on greater community understanding and environmental awareness. As the harmony vocalist in the show’s house band, the etones, Helen lends her golden-toned voice to the musical portions of the show (she has provided harmony vocals for countless guest artists including Bruce Cockburn, Keb'Mo', Joan Osborne, James Taylor, Mavis Staples, John Gorka, Beth Orton, Ryan Shaw, Rosanne Cash and many more).
Outside of etown, she has appeared as a harmony vocalist on A Prairie Home Companion and has performed at several musical festivals and concert venues across the country. She is also a nationally established commercial voice-over talent.