She’s been called the best slide guitar player alive today. She’s been hailed as one of the top 25 blues artists of the past fifty years and she’s still going strong today. Her self-titled debut album back in 1971 was a low-key, prescient and impactful statement that calls for renewed appreciation.

Clash City Rockers. The Guns of Brixton. “Rock the Casbah.” “Phony Beatlemania has bitten the dust.” “No Elvis, Beatles, or the Rolling Stones.” The Only Band That Matters = The Clash.

Was there ever a debut album more fittingly titled than Steve Forbert’s astonishing 1978 release ‘Alive on Arrival’? Our First Steps series traces his initial impact and subsequent career.