Decades before millennial hipsters embraced the ukulele as a cool item, Carmaig DeForest reclaimed the tiny four-string instrument to accompany his witty, punk-leaning songs about love and politics. DeForest was born on September 9, 1957. He developed a passion for rock & roll at a young age, but when he enrolled at the University of California in Santa Cruz in 1978, he studied theater with an eye toward becoming an actor and stage director. He shifted creative gears when he attended a workshop in directing led by Spalding Gray, who encouraged DeForest to create work that more closely reflected his own life. He started writing songs, and lacking another instrument, he used a ukulele he'd bought to decorate his dorm room to accompany himself. In 1980, DeForest joined a short-lived Santa Cruz punk band called Art & the Paganhearts, and in 1982 he relocated to Los Angeles, where he launched a career as a solo performer. DeForest's energetic performing style and clever songwriting helped him win a devoted audience in California, despite his unconventional choice of instrument, and he regularly shared bills with the Violent Femmes, They Might Be Giants, and the Ramones. (The Femmes were such big fans that bandleader Gordon Gano briefly moonlighted in DeForest's backing band.) DeForest's music caught the attention of A&R men at Bigtime Records, an indie label that had struck a distribution deal with BMG, and he signed with them to cut an album in 1986. Fellow Bigtime artist Alex Chilton came on board to produce and play guitar on DeForest's debut; however, Bigtime fell prey to financial difficulties, and went out of business before the album could be released. Undaunted, DeForest and Chilton headed back to the studio and re-cut the songs, which were released by the independent Good Foot Records label. The album, I Shall Be Released, was well reviewed and found favor at college radio, where adventurous programmers latched onto political numbers like "Judas" (about then-president Ronald Reagan) and "Crack's No Worse Than the Fascist Threat." However, Good Foot wasn't a well-funded label, and within a year, the imprint had gone under and I Shall Be Released was out of print. The European New Rose label put out an EP, 6 Live Cuts, before 1987 was out, and DeForest remained busy as a live act, playing clubs and festivals across the country. He next began playing guitar and working with a rotating pool of musicians he dubbed DeathGrooveLoveParty (bassist Ned Doherty was the only other constant member). After several years of live performances, they made their recording debut with the 1992 single "George Bush Lies" b/w "Love Is Strong," and in 1993, they released a full-length album titled Death Groove Love Party. 1997 saw DeForest once again picking up the uke for the LP El Camino Real, and in 2004, he released a revised version of "George Bush Lies" as a salvo against the re-election campaign of George W. Bush. DeForest issued his fourth solo album, Idiot Strings, in 2007, but largely retired from the music business after that, though he was involved in children's musical education programs in the Pacific Northwest. In 2017, DeForest's debut album was given a remastered and expanded release by Omnivore Recordings, which included unreleased live and studio performances; the new edition was titled I Shall Be Re-Released. ~ Mark Deming