Forest Ray Brings Three Eastern Oregon Shows to Pendleton, Baker City and Anthony Lakes

Peter Sumic is bringing his recording and touring project Forest Ray through Eastern Oregon this week with three consecutive shows spanning Pendleton, Baker City, and Anthony Lakes Mountain Resort from March 12 through 14.

The run opens Thursday, March 12, at Great Pacific, 403 S. Main St. in Pendleton, with a 7 p.m. show. Forest Ray then moves to Baker City on Friday, March 13, at Churchill School, 3451 Broadway St., where doors open at 6 p.m. and the music starts at 6:45 p.m. The weekend closes Saturday, March 14, with a 3–6 p.m. performance in the lodge at Anthony Lakes Mountain Resort.

For the Baker City show, advance tickets are $15 at churchillbaker.com, rising to $20 at the door. Seniors 60 and older, veterans and active service members, and students ages 16 to 21 each qualify for a $5 discount. Children 15 and under get in free when accompanied by a ticket-holding adult. Advanced sales close one hour before showtime. MC Taco Bus will have food available, and the event is sponsored by BELLA Main St. Market and Gregg Hinrichsen State Farm Insurance.

Contrary to the name, there is no Forest behind Forest Ray. Sumic, whose parents moved to Seattle in the late 1980s from what is now Croatia, started playing guitar at age 6 and was recording music by 13. He launched Forest Ray as a recording project in 2015 in San Luis Obispo, California, with an initial focus on 1960s garage rock. Since 2019, his output has shifted toward folk rock, Americana, and what he describes as psychedelic folk rock, which he defines simply as "any kind of rock 'n' roll influenced by music of the 1960s." Onstage, his primary instruments are harmonica and lead guitar.

The band's size shifts depending on the tour. It has ranged from a solo act to as many as seven members; Sumic said he expects a four-piece for the Eastern Oregon dates.

Forest Ray's most recent album, Jebivjetar, came out in January 2024. The title is a Croatian word that Sumic says is always paired with the name Peter and translates, loosely, as "carefree, free spirit, drifter." The full translation is available at forestray.bandcamp.com, where Sumic's catalog lives. He is currently at work on a follow-up record and has already released two new singles, "Send My Love" and "Reasons." "We've been busy in the studio, and playing quite a lot," he said.