[Cover photo credit to Annie Bartholomew]

Juneau, Alaska-based singer/songwriter Josh Fortenbery is releasing No Such Thing As Forever on March 8, 2024. It sets out to “hold a magnifying glass to modern anxiety, self-doubt, and complicated family dynamics.” The latest single, “Bored to Death” is out now.

Fortenbery says:

‘Bored to Death’ is basically just a list of my neuroses. I’m restless and unsatisfied and I fixate on problems I largely invent or stupid things I say. But I tend to pretend I’m doing fine and sometimes that’s enough for it to become true.

Fortenbery, who lived in North Carolina, Wisconsin, Mexico, and Oregon before settling in his adopted hometown, secured a grant from the local arts council, then recruited fellow Alaskan Justin Smith as his co-producer after hearing his work on Annie Bartholomew’s Sisters of White Chapel.

Smith loaded his collection of mics and handmade analog studio equipment on a truck and ferried his gear east to Juneau, where the public radio station lent them studio space. All of the musicians on the album live in Southeast Alaska, and many are members of the traditional Bluegrass band in which Fortenbery moonlights.

Fortenbery adds about the role of humor on the album:

It’s important to find a little humor in everything, because no one will want to hang out with you if you’re heavy and dark all the time.