Gary (Jeshel) Forrester (born 3 July 1946) is a musician, writer, and academic who lives in Rotorua, New Zealand.Latta, David, Australian Country Music (Random House Australia, 1991) ."Capital love letter: Renaissance man Gary Forrester turns back to the novel", FishHead: Wellington's Magazine, Issue 14, New Zealand, June 2012."The Questionnaire: Jeshel Forrester", The Sunday Star-Times, 1 July 2018."Telling stories in music", Rotorua Weekender, 2 December 2016, p. 13."Jeshel Forrester finds his meadowlark", The Sunday Star-Times, 25 February 2017.See, e.g., "Sitting Bull Hegira", South Dakota Review, The University of South Dakota, Fall 2007, p. 8.See, e.g., "Unrequited", Poetry New Zealand, Vol. 36, February 2008.Forrester's three-Act play, Pronouns, opened at Batumi Shota Rustaveli State University in Batumi, Georgia, on 2 June 2025. https://bsu.edu.ge/sub-19/page/22443/index.html He was profiled by Random House Australia (Australian Country Music, 1991) as one of the major figures in the Australian music scene during the 1980s and 1990s, and in New Zealand by FishHead: Wellington's Magazine as a "modern Renaissance man." In a 2018 interview with New Zealand's leading newspaper, Forrester was described by the Sunday Star-Times as "a Native American descendant, on his mother's side ... who settled in New Zealand in 2006. [He is] a published author and poet and has released three solo albums in the past three years."
According to Fishhead, in addition to his teaching fellowship lecturing in legal ethics at the Victoria University of Wellington Law School from 2008 to 2016, Forrester had published "three novels and a book of poems, [was] a successful bluegrass composer and musician, an advocate for indigenous rights, and a father of six children." He taught at the University of Melbourne from 1976 to 1980, at the Northwestern School of Law in Oregon from 1983 to 1985, at Deakin University from 1991 to 1992, at the University of Illinois from 2000 to 2003,Anderson, Stephen, "Gary Forrester's novel follows odyssey of profane lawyer", ISBA Bar News, Vol. 46, No. 10, April 2006. ( ). at Victoria University of Wellington from 2008 to 2016, and, in 2024–2025, at Batumi Shota Rustaveli State University in the Transcaucasian country of Georgia. The latter position with Batumi Shota Rustaveli State University was undertaken by Forrester as a Peace Corps Volunteer, 55 years after he first served in the Peace Corps in Guyana, South America, in the 1960s. At the age of 78, he became one of the oldest of the 250,000 persons to have served in the Peace Corps' 62-year history."Five returned volunteers explain why it's never too late to serve." https://www.peacecorps.gov/connect/blog/5-returned-volunteers-explain-why-its-never-too-late-to-serve
Beginning in the 1980s, he represented Indian tribes in securing restoration legislation through the United States Congress;"Lawyering down under leads to bluegrass tunes, Rank Strangers", Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, 22 September 1989, p. 2."Grand Ronde Reservation Plan" (Gary Forrester, Tribal Attorney), November 1985 (prepared under a grant from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior, pursuant to Public Law 98-165, 22 November 1983, Grand Ronde Restoration Act). authored a text on American Indian law;Forrester, Gary and H. Barry Holt, Digest of American Indian Law: Cases and Chronology, Fred B. Rothman & Co. (1990), . and wrote numerous articles on the rights of indigenous peoples, the environment, civil procedure, and other legal topics.See, e.g., "Aboriginal Land Rights," Melbourne University Law Review, 1986; "U.S. Indian Legal Services," Australian Legal Services Bulletin, 1982; "The Himalaya," Melbourne University Law Review, 1978; "Judicial Approval of Ritual Spearing," Melbourne University Summons, 1976; "Illinois' Capital Punishment Statute," University of Illinois Law Forum, 1975; "Recovery for Economic Loss," Melbourne University Summons, 1977; "The Credit Contract & Consumer Finance Act," New Zealand Lawyer, Issue 50, October 2006; "Know Your Rights," New Zealand Law Society Law Talk, Issue 671, July 2006; "Illinois' Respondents' in Discovery Statute – Federal Implications," The Trial Journal of the Illinois Trial Lawyers' Association, Summer 2005; "Respondents in Discovery and the Statute of Limitations," The Trial Journal of the Illinois Trial Lawyers' Association, Winter 2001; "Conflicting Statutes of Limitation and Municipal Liability in Illinois," The Trial Journal of the Illinois Trial Lawyers' Association, Spring 2001; "The Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Practices Act," Illinois Causes of Action – Elements, Forms and Winning Tips: Estate, Business & Non-Personal Injury Actions, Chapter 1, Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education, 2002–2020; "Causes of Action – Consumer Actions," Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education, 2002-2024; "Causes of Action – Common Considerations," Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education, 2002-2024; "Removal and Remand from Federal Court," Illinois Causes of Action – Elements, Forms and Winning Tips: Estate, Business & Non-Personal Injury Actions, Chapter 55, Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education, 2008–2020; "Decisions Interpreting Chapter 735 of the Illinois Compiled Statutes, 5/2-801 through 5/2-806," American Bar Association Class Action Survey, 2002–06 editions; "American Nightmare" (regarding the visionary architect Buckminster Fuller), Pacific Ecologist, 2009, Issue 19.
Strangers To Us All: Lawyers and Poetry said that "Forrester is a hard man to pigeon-hole. He has practiced law, taught law, and spent time away from the legal profession. He is a singer, musician, poet, and writer."Elkins, James, Strangers To Us All: Lawyers and Poetry, http://myweb.wvnet.edu/~jelkins/lp-2001/intro/contemp_pt1.html .
Bluegrass, folk, and Americana music
Forrester's bluegrass compositions were recorded (under his "nom de guitar" Eddie Rambeaux) on the albums Dust on the Bible (RCA Records, 1987), Uluru (Larrikin Records, 1988) and Kamara (Troubadour Records, 1990).Bluegrass Unlimited, October 2011, p.40.Bluegrass Unlimited, June 1990, p. 67.Bluegrass Unlimited, May 1989, p.69.Bluegrass Unlimited, April 1989, p. 59."Melbourne Australia's Rank Strangers Play It Straight", Bluegrass Unlimited, December 1988, pp. 54–57 (feature article).
In 1988, Forrester's single "Uluru" was featured on two national commemorative albums by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (the ABC), as "the cream of a very rich mix" of Australian country music.That's Australia, Larrikin Records, 1988 (produced by ABC television).Music Deli, Larrikin Records, Larrikin LRF 227, 1988 (noting that "the Rank Strangers from Melbourne play their own style of contemporary bluegrass")."Strangers' band with a bluegrass mission", The Sun-Herald (Australia), 4 December 1988, p. 140. The ABC observed: "Like our landscape, the history of Australia is best told by our poets, and this recording offers a unique slice... of our bushland, our people, our dreams, and our extraordinary sense of humour."The song Uluru tells the story of the Azaria Chamberlain disappearance, one of Australia's most notorious murder mysteries. Forrester based his song on the 1985 book by lawyer colleague John Bryson, Evil Angels (). See Death of Azaria Chamberlain and Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton. Bryson's book became the basis for a major film, A Cry in the Dark, starring Meryl Streep and New Zealander Sam Neill, directed by Australian Fred Schepisi. See Bluegrass Unlimited, October 2011, p. 40. Forrester's music also appeared on the Larrikin Records 1996 composite album, Give Me a Home Among the Gum Trees.Give Me a Home Among the Gum Trees, Larrikin Records, 1996.
The Rank Strangers toured Australia and America."Joining the front ranks", Champaign-Urbana (IL) News-Gazette Weekend, 8 September 1989, p. 14. The American tour included appearances at the Station Inn in Nashville and the IBMA Fan Fest in Owensboro, Kentucky,"Die-hard fans call for more as bluegrass festival ends", Owensboro (KY) Messenger-Inquirer, 25 September 1989 (incl. photo). as well as headlining at the Louisville Bluegrass and American MusicFest in Kentucky."Louisville Bluegrass and American MusicFest", Louisville (KY) Courier-Journal, MusicFest advertising section, 31 August 1989, p. 2.
Between 2015 and 2018, Forrester issued his first three solo albums, Alma Rose, Jeshel, and The Old Churchyard (Te Ahumairangi Records), featuring 30 new compositions. In 2020, while in isolation during New Zealand's COVID-19 lockdown, Forrester put together a new solo acoustic album of 11 original songs and 2 covers, for non-commercial release on the Bandcamp online music streaming website.jeshelforrester.bandcamp.com During the lockdown, the only available recording device at his lakeside cabin was a cell phone, so the new collection of songs was titled The Covid Phone Album.
Awards
In 1988, the Rank Strangers won Best Group, Best Male Vocalist, and Best Composition at the Australian Gospel Music Awards. In 1990, the Rank Strangers finished second in an international competition sponsored by the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA), Nashville, Tennessee.
Critical reception
In 1988, Forrester's single "Uluru" was featured on two national commemorative albums by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (the ABC), as "the cream of a very rich mix" of Australian country music. The ABC observed: "Like our landscape, the history of Australia is best told by our poets, and this recording offers a unique slice... of our bushland, our people, our dreams, and our extraordinary sense of humour."The song Uluru tells the story of the Azaria Chamberlain disappearance, one of Australia's most notorious murder mysteries. Forrester based his song on the 1985 book by lawyer colleague John Bryson, Evil Angels (). See Death of Azaria Chamberlain and Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton. Bryson's book became the basis for a major film, A Cry in the Dark, starring Meryl Streep and New Zealander Sam Neill, directed by Australian Fred Schepisi. See Bluegrass Unlimited, October 2011, p. 40.
Random House Australia's 1991 profile declared that "the most striking aspect of the albums, apart from their frequency, is the exceptionally high standard of songwriting.""Bluegrass artist from Tuscola gains fame down under", Champaign-Urbana (IL) News-Gazette, 24 January 1992 ("etc./Music" section). Australian Country Music observed that the bluegrass band fronted by Forrester (as lead singer and guitarist), the Rank Strangers,"Good story, good songs", Country Beat (Australia), 2 December 1987."Riding high on gospel-country boom", The Daily Telegraph (Sydney), 8 October 1987, p. 25."Strangers rank with the best", Weekly Times (Australia), 4 November 1987, p. 55. "have a musical immediacy that typifies the best of bluegrass and recalls such players as The Stanley Brothers and Bill Monroe."
According to Country Beat, Australia's country music journal, Dust on the Bible was "one of the best bluegrass-country albums released in Australia" in 1987, and Forrester was "one of the best songwriters living in Australia." In December 1988, Mike Jackson of The Canberra Times wrote that the Rank Strangers' second album, Uluru (the Aboriginal name for Australia's central Ayers Rock), "featured some delightful lead breaks on mandolin (Andrew Hook), banjo (Peter Somerville) and fiddle (Gerry Hale), and some rock-solid accompaniment from guitarist (Forrester) and bass player (Philomena Carroll)." Jackson said that the album was "worth buying for the fiddle playing alone. Hale shows great technique and a flair for appropriate harmony lines while matching the punch of the mandolin and banjo well."