John Gorka
Encyclopedia
John Gorka is a contemporary American folk music
ian. In 1991, Rolling Stone
magazine called him "the preeminent male singer-songwriter of what has been dubbed the New Folk Movement."
as a Christmas
gift, though Gorka alleges that his older brother stole it from him shortly thereafter. He eventually learned, instead, to play the banjo
, and began performing in a folk music group at his church.
Gorka attended Moravian College
in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
and joined the Razzy Dazzy Spasm Band which would also include guitarist Richard Shindell
. He later began performing solo at the Godfrey Daniels coffee house as the opening act for various musicians who toured there. These included Nanci Griffith
, Bill Morrissey
, Claudia Schmidt
and Jack Hardy
.
In 1984, Gorka took first place at the Kerrville Folk Festival
. Since then he has toured with artists such as Suzanne Vega
, Shawn Colvin
, Michael Manring
, Christine Lavin
, Dave Van Ronk
, Cliff Eberhardt
, David Massengill
, Frank Christian
and Lucy Kaplansky
.
As of 2005, he was residing in the St. Croix Valley area near Saint Paul, Minnesota
.
In 2008, Gorka decided to return to Europe for the first time in fourteen years. In October, he played four times in the Netherlands, he played live on VPRO radio and he did a session for the John Gorka video site.
In 2009, Gorka toured in the USA but also in Ireland and the Netherlands. In October, Red House Records released the CD "So Dark You See." Gorka's latest installment is considered a more intimate, vocal and guitar-centered record than the last two.
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
ian. In 1991, Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine called him "the preeminent male singer-songwriter of what has been dubbed the New Folk Movement."
Biography
Gorka received his first guitarGuitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
as a Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
gift, though Gorka alleges that his older brother stole it from him shortly thereafter. He eventually learned, instead, to play the banjo
Banjo
In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
, and began performing in a folk music group at his church.
Gorka attended Moravian College
Moravian College
Moravian College a private liberal arts college, and the associated Moravian Theological Seminary are located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, United States, in the Lehigh Valley region.-History:...
in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Bethlehem is a city in Lehigh and Northampton Counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 74,982, making it the seventh largest city in Pennsylvania, after Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, Erie,...
and joined the Razzy Dazzy Spasm Band which would also include guitarist Richard Shindell
Richard Shindell
Richard Shindell is an American folk songwriter. Shindell grew up in Port Washington, New York. He currently lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina, with his wife, a university professor, and their children....
. He later began performing solo at the Godfrey Daniels coffee house as the opening act for various musicians who toured there. These included Nanci Griffith
Nanci Griffith
Nanci Griffith, is an American singer, guitarist and songwriter from Austin, Texas.-Biography:...
, Bill Morrissey
Bill Morrissey
Bill Morrissey was an American folk singer/songwriter from New Hampshire. Many of his songs reflect the harsh realities of life in crumbling New England mill towns.-Career:Morrissey was born in Hartford, Connecticut...
, Claudia Schmidt
Claudia Schmidt
Claudia Schmidt is a musician, originally from New Baltimore, Michigan, who has recorded folk, jazz, blues, and spoken word albums. She plays guitar and Appalachian dulcimer and sings. She has appeared numerous times on the radio program, A Prairie Home Companion. She has recorded with Paul...
and Jack Hardy
Jack Hardy (singer-songwriter)
John Studebaker "Jack" Hardy was an American lyrical singer-songwriter and playwright based in Greenwich Village, who was influential as a writer, performer, and mentor in the North American and European folk music scenes for decades...
.
In 1984, Gorka took first place at the Kerrville Folk Festival
Kerrville Folk Festival
The Kerrville Folk Festival is a music festival held for 18 consecutive days in the late spring/early summer at Quiet Valley Ranch near Kerrville, Texas. The event has run on a yearly basis since 1972. In November 2008, the Kerrville Folk Festival and Kerrville Wine & Music Festival were acquired...
. Since then he has toured with artists such as Suzanne Vega
Suzanne Vega
Suzanne Nadine Vega is an American songwriter and singer known for her eclectic folk-inspired music.Two of Vega's songs reached the top 10 of various international chart listings: "Luka" and "Tom's Diner"...
, Shawn Colvin
Shawn Colvin
Shawn Colvin is an American singer-songwriter and musician.-Childhood and early career:Colvin was born in Vermillion, South Dakota. Her formative years were spent in the town of Carbondale, Illinois, where she attended Southern Illinois University Carbondale. She learned to play guitar at the age...
, Michael Manring
Michael Manring
Michael Manring is an American electric bassist from the San Francisco Bay Area, .-Biography:...
, Christine Lavin
Christine Lavin
Christine Lavin is a New York City-based singer-songwriter and promoter of contemporary folk music. She has recorded numerous solo albums, and has also recorded with other female folk artists under the name Four Bitchin' Babes...
, Dave Van Ronk
Dave Van Ronk
Dave Van Ronk was an American folk singer, born in Brooklyn, New York, who settled in Greenwich Village, New York, and was eventually nicknamed the "Mayor of MacDougal Street" ....
, Cliff Eberhardt
Cliff Eberhardt
Cliff Eberhardt is an American folk singer-songwriter. He is a founding member of the Fast Folk Music Cooperative in New York City. Eberhardt joined Red House Records in 1997 and has recorded five albums for the label, the most recent in 2009, 500 Miles: The Blue Rock Sessions...
, David Massengill
David Massengill
David Massengill is an American folk singer/songwriter, guitar and appalachian dulcimer player. His best-known songs include "On The Road to Fairfax County," recorded by The Roches and by Joan Baez, "The Great American Dream," and "My Name Joe," about an illegal immigrant restaurant worker...
, Frank Christian
Frank Christian (singer-songwriter)
Frank Christian is a Greenwich Village-based singer-songwriter and guitarist. His best known song, "Three Flights Up" was recorded by Nanci Griffith for her Grammy award-winning 1992 release Other Voices, Other Rooms....
and Lucy Kaplansky
Lucy Kaplansky
Lucy Kaplansky is an American folk musician based in New York City. Kaplansky also has a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Yeshiva University.-Biography:...
.
As of 2005, he was residing in the St. Croix Valley area near Saint Paul, Minnesota
Saint Paul, Minnesota
Saint Paul is the capital and second-most populous city of the U.S. state of Minnesota. The city lies mostly on the east bank of the Mississippi River in the area surrounding its point of confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Minneapolis, the state's largest city...
.
In 2008, Gorka decided to return to Europe for the first time in fourteen years. In October, he played four times in the Netherlands, he played live on VPRO radio and he did a session for the John Gorka video site.
In 2009, Gorka toured in the USA but also in Ireland and the Netherlands. In October, Red House Records released the CD "So Dark You See." Gorka's latest installment is considered a more intimate, vocal and guitar-centered record than the last two.
Studio albums
- I Know (Red HouseRed House RecordsRed House Records is an American independent record label specializing in folk music and is based in St. Paul, Minnesota.The label was originally created in 1981 by Greg Brown as a method to distribute his own music, and is named for a farmhouse in Iowa where he was living...
, 1987) - Land of the Bottom LineLand of the Bottom LineLand of the Bottom Line is the second album by contemporary folk singer-songwriter John Gorka. The album was also Gorka's major label debut for High Street Records/Windham Hill Records. The album was highly acclaimed by critics at the time, and continues to be cited by some as Gorka's finest work...
(Windham Hill/High StreetHigh Street RecordsHigh Street Records was a subsidiary label of Windham Hill Records from about 1990 to 1997. Notable acts who recorded for the label include John Gorka, Pierce Pettis, Patty Larkin, The Subdudes, and Dots Will Echo...
, 1990) - Jack's Crows (Windham Hill/High Street, 1991)
- Temporary RoadTemporary RoadTemporary Road is the fourth album by folk singer-songwriter John Gorka. In 1992 there was some critical consensus that Gorka was one of the leading male voices of the "new folk" movement. As titles like "Looking Forward" and "Gravyland" might imply, the album has an overall optimistic tone...
(Windham Hill/High Street, 1992) - Out of the ValleyOut of the ValleyOut of the Valley is a 1994 album by contemporary folk singer-songwriter John Gorka. This is Gorka's fifth album and unlike the previous four recorded in various places in the northeastern United States, Out of the Valley was recorded at Imagine Sound Studios in Nashville, Tennessee...
(Windham Hill/High Street, 1994) - Between Five and SevenBetween Five and SevenBetween Five and Seven is as the name suggests, the sixth studio album by folk singer-songwriter John Gorka. It was released in August 1996. It is the last of the five albums Gorka recorded for Windham Hill/High Street Records before returning to the smaller, Red House label...
(Windham Hill/High Street, 1996) - After YesterdayAfter YesterdayAfter Yesterday is the seventh studio album by folk singer-songwriter John Gorka. It was released on October 20, 1998 by Red House Records. The album marked Gorka's return to Red House, after five albums with Windham Hill/High Street Records. This was heralded as a homecoming-of-sorts as Red...
(Red House, 1998) - The Company You Keep (Red House, 2001)
- Old Futures GoneOld Futures GoneOld Futures Gone is the ninth studio album by folk singer-songwriter John Gorka. It was released on September 23, 2003 by Red House Records. The album debuted at number two on the Folk Music Radio Airplay Chart and reached number one in October 2003...
(Red House, 2003) - Writing in the MarginsWriting in the MarginsWriting in the Margins is the tenth studio album by folk singer-songwriter John Gorka. It was released on July 11, 2006 by Red House Records and debuted at number one on the Folk Music Radio Airplay Chart. One departure from previous recordings is the inclusion of a couple of cover songs that...
(Red House, 2006) - So Dark You SeeSo Dark You See-Personnel:Musicians* John Gorka — vocals, fretless banjo, guitar, harmonium, keyboards and percussion* Marc Anderson — percussion* Dan Chouinard — accordion* Dick Freymuth — electric guitar* Rob Genadek — Percussion...
(Red House, 2009)
Collaboration
- Red Horse (Red House, 2010) with Lucy KaplanskyLucy KaplanskyLucy Kaplansky is an American folk musician based in New York City. Kaplansky also has a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Yeshiva University.-Biography:...
and Eliza GilkysonEliza GilkysonEliza Gilkyson is an Austin, Texas-based folk musician. She is the daughter of songwriter and folk musician Terry Gilkyson and Jane Gilkyson. She is the sister of guitarist Tony Gilkyson, who played with the Los Angeles-based bands Lone Justice and X...
On various artists compilations
- See various issues of Fast Folk Musical Magazine for early recordings.
- "I Saw a Stranger with Your Hair" on Legacy: A Collection of New Folk MusicLegacy: A Collection of New Folk Music- Legacy II: A Collection of Singer-songwriters :The second volume was released several years after the first. As Will Ackerman's liner notes explain:...
(Windham Hill, 1989) - "Christmas BellsI Heard the Bells on Christmas Day"I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" is a Christmas carol based on the 1864 poem "Christmas Bells" by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.- Origin :...
", on A Winter's Solstice, Vol. III (Windham Hill, 1990) - "Love Minus Zero/No LimitLove Minus Zero/No Limit"Love Minus Zero/No Limit" is a song written by Bob Dylan for his fifth studio album Bringing It All Back Home, released in 1965 . The song was originally written as a tribute to Dylan's future wife Sara Lowndes...
" on A Tribute to Bob Dylan, Vol. 2 (SIS, 1994) - "The Gypsy Life" on The Live from Mountain StageMountain StageMountain Stage is a two-hour music radio show, first aired in 1983, produced by WV Public Broadcasting and distributed worldwide by National Public Radio and the Voice of America's satellite radio service. Hosted by Larry Groce, the program showcases diverse music, from the traditional to modern...
, Vol. 8 (Blue Plate, 1995) - "Bracero" on What's That I Hear?: The Songs of Phil OchsWhat's That I Hear?: The Songs of Phil OchsWhat's That I Hear?: The Songs of Phil Ochs is a 1998 tribute compilation to the music of the late Phil Ochs. The various performers cover several generations of Ochs' admirers...
(Sliced Bread, 1998) - "Thirsty Boots" (Eric AndersenEric AndersenEric Andersen is an American singer-songwriter.-Biography:In the early 1960s, Eric Andersen was part of the Greenwich Village folk scene in New York...
) on Bleecker Street: Greenwich Village in the 1960s (Astor Place Records, 1999) - "Girl from the North CountryGirl from the North Country"Girl from the North Country" is a song written by Bob Dylan. It was first released in 1963 as the second track on Dylan's second studio album, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. Dylan re-recorded the song as a duet with Johnny Cash in 1969. That recording became the first track on Nashville Skyline,...
" on A Nod to Bob: An Artists' Tribute to Bob Dylan on His 60th Birthday (Red House, 2001) - "Do La Lay", "Things We've Handed Down" and others on Down at the Sea Hotel (La Montagne Secrète, 2007)
External links
- Official Website
- AIX Records Website
- "John Gorka videosite" a kind of John Gorka multi media site.