Temporary Road is the fourth album by folk

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....

 singer-songwriter

Singer-songwriter

Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...

 John Gorka

John Gorka

John Gorka is a contemporary American folk musician. In 1991, Rolling Stone magazine called him "the preeminent male singer-songwriter of what has been dubbed the New Folk Movement."-Biography:...

. 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. High Street Records

High Street Records

High 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...

 produced videos for the upbeat "When She Kisses Me" and "I Don't Feel Like a Train", both of which received some airplay on CMT

CMT

- Medicine :* California mastitis test* Certified Massage Therapist* Cervical motion tenderness, a sign of pelvic inflammatory disease* Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease* Chemically modified tetracyclines* Circus Movement Tachycardia...

.

Despite the upbeat tone of many tracks the album also contains some darker political commentary. The title track, and "The Gypsy" life offer reflections on the first Gulf War. "Can You Understand My Joy?" is asked in an ironic, sarcastic way. The mix of moods in Gorka's songs helped earn him the description of "the dark optimist."

Track listing

All songs written by John Gorka

1. "Looking Forward" – 4:03
2. "Baby Blues" – 3:40
3. "The Gypsy Life" – 4;23
4. "Vinnie Charles Is Free" – 4:27
5. "Gravyland" – 3:38
6. "Temporary Road" – 3:30
7. "All That Hammering" – 3:21
8. "I Don't Feel Like A Train" – 3:06
9. "When She Kisses Me" – 2:44
10. "Grand Larceny" – 3:24
11. "If I Could Forget To Breathe" – 2:28
12. "Can You Understand My Joy" – 3:17
13. "Brown Shirts" - 3:52

Personnel

• John Gorka
  John Gorka
  John Gorka is a contemporary American folk musician. In 1991, Rolling Stone magazine called him "the preeminent male singer-songwriter of what has been dubbed the New Folk Movement."-Biography:...
  
   - Vocals, 6 & 12-string guitars
• Nanci Griffith
  Nanci Griffith
  Nanci Griffith, is an American singer, guitarist and songwriter from Austin, Texas.-Biography:...
  
   - Backing vocals
• 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...
  
   - Backing vocals
• 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:...
  
   - Backing vocals
• Lee Satterfield - Backing vocals
• Dawn Atkinson - Backing vocals
• Denise Mininfield - Backing vocals
• Jennifer Newell - Backing vocals
• Charlene Moore - Backing vocals
• Tom Corwin - Backing vocals
• Darol Anger
  Darol Anger
  -Career:Darol Anger entered popular music at the age of 21 as a founding member of The David Grisman Quintet. Anger played fiddle to David Grisman's mandolin in The David Grisman Quintet's 1977 debut. He co-founded the Turtle Island String Quartet with David Balakrishnan in 1985 and performed,...
  
   - Baritone violin
• Mike Marshall
  Mike Marshall (bluegrass musician)
  Mike Marshall is an American mandolin player and multi-instrumentalist who grew up in central Florida and now lives in Oakland, California. Marshall has been a part of New Acoustic Music since the early 1980s. He has performed and recorded with many musicians in a variety of styles, including...
  
   - Mandolin, nylon-string guitar
• William Gallison - Harmonica
• John Leventhal
  John Leventhal
  John Leventhal is a Grammy Award-winning musician, producer, songwriter, and recording engineer who has produced albums for Michelle Branch, Rosanne Cash, Marc Cohn, Shawn Colvin, Rodney Crowell, Jim Lauderdale, Joan Osborne, Loudon Wainwright, The Wreckers and many others...
  
   - Electric guitars
• Roy Rogers
  Roy Rogers (guitarist)
  Roy Rogers is an American blues rock slide guitarist and record producer. He was named after the singing cowboy, Roy Rogers...
  
   - Slide guitar, National steel guitar
• Sean Hopper - Synthesizer, organ
• Richard Tee
  Richard Tee
  Richard Tee was a pianist, studio musician, singer and arranger.Tee graduated from the High School of Music and Art and attended the Manhattan School of Music. Though better known as a studio and session musician, Tee led a jazz ensemble, the Richard Tee Committee, and was a founding member of the...
  
   - Organ
• Steve Gaboury - Synthesizer
• Michael Manring
  Michael Manring
  Michael Manring is an American electric bassist from the San Francisco Bay Area, .-Biography:...
  
   - Fretless bass
• Todd Phillips
  Todd Phillips
  Todd Phillips is an American screenwriter and film director. He is best known for directing the comedy films Road Trip, Old School, The Hangover, and Due Date.-Early life:...
  
   - Acoustic bass
• Rich Girard - Bass
• Denny Fongheiser - drums