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Event
John Gorka
John Gorka was born in Newark, NJ on a Sunday in July, 1958 under Eisenhower skies. He grew up in Colonia, NJ and at age ten got his first guitar as a Christmas present. Before John's fingers were strong enough to press the strings down his older brother claimed the guitar for himself and carved his name in it. The younger Gorka never recovered from this blow. A few years later he took up the banjo to retaliate. The family was never the same.
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In high school Gorka started writing songs and singing with a church folk group. When he moved away from home to go to Moravian College in Bethlehem, PA, he started performing in the school coffeehouse programs and the Razzy Dazzy Spasm Band, a non-traditional bluegrass, country, blues and folk band. Future songwriter and recording artist Richard Shindell was asked to join the band as the lead guitar player when the others learned he could play Black Magic Rag. Fellow Spasm member Doug Anderson took Gorka to a coffeehouse that had just opened on the south side of Bethlehem, PA called Godfrey Daniels. It was there Gorka discovered the kind of performer he wanted to become.
Godfrey Daniels is one of the oldest and most venerable music institutions in eastern Pennsylvania. A small neighborhood coffeehouse and listening room, it has long been a hangout for music lovers and aspiring musicians, and in the late 1970s, one of these was John Gorka. . . .
Though his academic course work lay in Philosophy and History, music began to offer paramount enticements. Soon he found himself living in the clubs basement and acting as resident M.C. and soundman, encountering legendary folk troubadors like Canadian singer/songwriter Stan Rogers, Eric Andersen, Tom Paxton and Claudia Schmidt. Their brand of folk-inspired acoustic music inspired him, and before long he was performing his own songs mostly as an opener for visiting acts. Soon he started traveling to New York City, where Jack Hardys legendary Fast Folk circle (a breeding ground for many a major singer/songwriter) became a powerful source of education and encouragement. Folk meccas like Texas Kerrville Folk Festival (where he won the New Folk Award in 1984) and Boston followed, and his stunningly soulful baritone voice and emerging songwriting began turning heads. Those who had at one time inspired him Suzanne Vega, Bill Morrissey, Nanci Griffith, Christine Lavin, Shawn Colvin had become his peers.
In 1987, the young Minnesota-based Red House Records caught wind of Johns talents and released his first album I Know to popular and critical acclaim. With unusual drive and focus, John hit the ground running and proceeded to record five albums with High Street over the next seven years: Land of the Bottom Line, Jacks Crows, Temporary Road, Out of the Valley, and Between Five and Seven. His albums and his touring (over 150 nights a year at times) brought new accolades for his craft. Rolling Stone called him the preeminent male singer/songwriter of the new folk movement. His rich multi-faceted songs full of depth, beauty and emotion gained increasing attention from critics and audiences across the country, as well as in Europe where his tours led him through Italy, Belgium, Scotland, Ireland, Holland, Switzerland and Germany.
Other performers also discovered his songwriting. His material is championed by many, to date more than a score of artists have recorded and/or performed John Gorka songs, including Mary Chapin Carpenter, Mary Black and Maura OConnell. He also started sharing tours with many notable friends, Nanci Griffith and Mary Chapin Carpenter among them.
Longtime fans will find in John's songs a trademark twist of lyric and attention to the details that so effectively evoke a time, a place, a person, or a range of emotion. John also shares his joy at recent changes in his life (namely a 1996 marriage and move to Minnesota, followed by the 1997 birth of a baby boy Bocephus Mahatma Sinatra Gorka) with a hardened knowledge, vented and voiced and in story songs and character studiesthat engage the imagination and invite introspection.
John has written: "I consider myself to be an aspiring folk singer, not an accomplished one. I think of modern folk music to be more of an attitude or an approach than a musical style. Folk music is music that makes a difference in people's lives and one that finds a useful place. And there is more than one way to get there. To make music that makes a difference is the ideal. I guess that is my mission statement, my musical manifesto."
Though a long way from Godfrey Daniels, John Gorka is still honored to be a part of the folk tradition energetic acoustic music that is not a trend, not a fad, but an expression of everyday life. His rich baritone voice and unique songcraft weave together in a way that can only be described as Gorka.
John appears with us as we approach the conclusion of our special 40th Anniversary season celebrating return visits of the performers who recently enthralled our audience.
Don't miss the opportunity to see John live on our stage !!!
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LocationFolk Music Society of Huntington
30 Washington Drive
Centerport, NY 11721
United States
Categories
| Kid Friendly: No |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: No |
| Wheelchair Accessible: No |
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