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John Gorka (born July 27, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter. In 1991, ''
In 1987, Gorka recorded his first album, ''I Know''. It was released by Red Housebeginning a long association with that label. Although his next five albums were distributed by 
He has appeared with artists such as
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'' magazine called him "the preeminent male singer-songwriter of what has been dubbed the New Folk Movement."
Personal life
Gorka was raised in the Colonia section ofWoodbridge Township, New Jersey
Woodbridge Township is a township in Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The township is both a regional hub for Central New Jersey and a major bedroom suburb of New York City in the New York metropolitan area located within the ...
, where he attended Colonia High School
Colonia High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades in the Colonia section of Woodbridge Township in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States. It operates as part of the ...
.
He studied philosophy and history at Moravian College
Moravian University is a private university in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The institution traces its founding to 1742 by Moravians, descendants of followers of the Bohemian Reformation under John Amos Comenius. Founded in 1742, Moravian University ...
in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Bethlehem is a city in Northampton and Lehigh Counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, Bethlehem had a total population of 75,781. Of this, 55,639 were in Northampton County and 19, ...
and graduated from there in 1980.
As of 2005, he was residing in the St. Croix Valley area near Saint Paul, Minnesota
Saint Paul (abbreviated St. Paul) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County, Minnesota, Ramsey County. Situated on high bluffs overlooking a bend in the Mississip ...
.
Career
Gorka formed the Razzy Dazzy Spasm Band with Doug Anderson and Russ Rentler, which would also include guitaristRichard Shindell
Richard Shindell (born August 3, 1960) is an American folk singer, songwriter, producer, and musician. Shindell grew up in Port Washington, New York, and now lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina, with his wife, Lila Caimari, a university professo ...
. After graduating from Moravian, he began performing solo at Godfrey Daniels coffee house in South Bethlehem as the opening act for various musicians including Nanci Griffith
Nanci Caroline Griffith (July 6, 1953 – August 13, 2021) was an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter. She appeared many times on the PBS music program ''Austin City Limits'' starting in 1985 (season 10). In 1994 she won a Grammy Award f ...
, Bill Morrissey
Bill Morrissey (November 25, 1951 – July 23, 2011) was a Grammy-nominated American folk singer-songwriter based in New Hampshire.
Early life
Morrissey was born in Hartford, Connecticut. Growing up in Connecticut and Massachusetts, he start ...
, Claudia Schmidt and Jack Hardy. In 1984, Gorka was one of six winners chosen from the finalists in the New Folk competition at the 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 Kerrville Folk Festival was founded in 1972 by the husband-wife team of Rod Kennedy an ...
. Since then he has regularly toured Europe and North America.
In 1987, Gorka recorded his first album, ''I Know''. It was released by Red Housebeginning a long association with that label. Although his next five albums were distributed by Windham Hill
Windham Hill Records was an independent record label that specialized in instrumental acoustic music. It was founded by guitarist William Ackerman and Anne Robinson (née McGilvray) in 1976 and was popular in the 1980s and 1990s.
The label was ...
and High Street
High Street is a common street name for the primary business street of a city, town, or village, especially in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. It implies that it is the focal point for business, especially shopping. It is also a metonym fo ...
, he returned to Red House with 1998's '' After Yesterday'' and produced eight albums with them over the next twenty yearsmost recently '' True in Time'' (2018).
He has appeared with artists such as Suzanne Vega
Suzanne Nadine Vega ( Peck; born July 11, 1959) is an American singer-songwriter best known for her folk-inspired music. Vega's music career spans almost 40 years. She came to prominence in the mid-1980s, releasing four singles that entered the ...
, Shawn Colvin
Shawn Colvin (born Shawna Lee Colvin, January 10, 1956) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. While Colvin has been a solo recording artist for decades, she is best known for her 1998 Grammy Award-winning song "Sunny Came Home".
Early ...
, Michael Manring
Michael Manring (born June 27, 1960) is an American bass guitarist from the San Francisco Bay Area.
Biography
Michael Manring was born in Annapolis, Maryland,Tom Mulhern, ''Bass Heroes: Styles, Stories & Secrets of 30 Great Bass Players : from ...
, Christine Lavin
Christine Lavin (born January 2, 1952) 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 ...
, Dave Van Ronk
David Kenneth Ritz Van Ronk (June 30, 1936 – February 10, 2002) was an American folk singer. An important figure in the American folk music revival and New York City's Greenwich Village scene in the 1960s, he was nicknamed the "Mayor of Ma ...
, Cliff Eberhardt
Cliff Eberhardt (born January 7, 1954, in Berwyn, Pennsylvania) 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 fi ...
, David Massengill
David Massengill (born 1951, Bristol, Tennessee) is an American folk singer-songwriter, guitar and Appalachian dulcimer player. Massengill considers Dave Van Ronk his mentor, and is fond of quoting Van Ronk's tribute "he takes the dull out of du ...
, Frank Christian, Antje Duvekot, Meg Hutchinson
Meg Hutchinson (born 1978, in South Egremont, Massachusetts) is an American folk singer-songwriter. Originally from rural westernmost Massachusetts, Hutchinson is now based in the Boston area. Influences include poet Mary Oliver, songwriter Sha ...
, and Lucy Kaplansky
Lucy Kaplansky (born February 16, 1960) is an American Folk music, folk musician based in New York City. Kaplansky has a PhD in clinical psychology from Yeshiva University and plays guitar, mandolin, and piano.
Life and career
Kaplansky was or ...
. He joined with Kaplansky and Eliza Gilkyson
Eliza Gilkyson (born August 24, 1950, Hollywood, California) is a Taos, New Mexico-based folk musician.Gilkyson moved her base from Austin, Texas, to Taos in 2020. She is the daughter of songwriter and folk musician Terry Gilkyson and his wife, J ...
to form the folk supergroup Red Horse
Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron Engineer (RED HORSE) squadrons are the United States Air Force's heavy-construction units. Their combat engineering capabilities are similar to those of the U.S. Navy Seabees and U.S ...
in 2010, touring together and releasing a self-titled album on which they performed each other's compositions. Red Horse toured through July 2014.
Discography
Studio albums
*'' I Know'' ( Red House, 1987) *''Land of the Bottom Line
''Land 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, ...
'' (Windham Hill
Windham Hill Records was an independent record label that specialized in instrumental acoustic music. It was founded by guitarist William Ackerman and Anne Robinson (née McGilvray) in 1976 and was popular in the 1980s and 1990s.
The label was ...
/High Street
High Street is a common street name for the primary business street of a city, town, or village, especially in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. It implies that it is the focal point for business, especially shopping. It is also a metonym fo ...
, 1990)
*''Jack's Crows
''Jack's Crows'' is an album by the American folk musician John Gorka. It was released in 1991. The album's title was supplied by Jack Hardy. "House in the Fields", for which a video was produced, was marketed to country music outlets.
Productio ...
'' (Windham Hill/High Street, 1991)
*''Temporary Road
''Temporary 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" m ...
'' (Windham Hill/High Street, 1992)
*'' Out of the Valley'' (Windham Hill/High Street, 1994)
*'' Between Five and Seven'' (Windham Hill/High Street, 1996)
*'' After Yesterday'' (Red House, 1998)
*'' The Company You Keep'' (Red House, 2001)
*''Old Futures Gone
Old or OLD may refer to:
Places
*Old, Baranya, Hungary
*Old, Northamptonshire, England
*Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD)
*OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, Mai ...
'' (Red House, 2003)
*''Writing in the Margins
''Writing in the Margins'' is the tenth studio album by folk music, 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''.So Dark You See'' (Red House, 2009)
*''
True in Time (Red House, 2018)
'
Official Website
Red House Records Website
*
Extensive Dutch fansite
AIX Records Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gorka, John 1958 births Living people American people of Polish descent American baritones American folk guitarists American male guitarists American folk singers American male singer-songwriters Colonia High School alumni Fast Folk artists Singer-songwriters from New Jersey Musicians from Newark, New Jersey People from Woodbridge Township, New Jersey Windham Hill Records artists Moravian University alumni Guitarists from New Jersey 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American male musicians Red House Records artists Singer-songwriters from New York (state)
Red Horse
Rapid Engineer Deployable Heavy Operational Repair Squadron Engineer (RED HORSE) squadrons are the United States Air Force's heavy-construction units. Their combat engineering capabilities are similar to those of the U.S. Navy Seabees and U.S ...
'' (Red House, 2010) with Lucy Kaplansky
Lucy Kaplansky (born February 16, 1960) is an American Folk music, folk musician based in New York City. Kaplansky has a PhD in clinical psychology from Yeshiva University and plays guitar, mandolin, and piano.
Life and career
Kaplansky was or ...
and Eliza Gilkyson
Eliza Gilkyson (born August 24, 1950, Hollywood, California) is a Taos, New Mexico-based folk musician.Gilkyson moved her base from Austin, Texas, to Taos in 2020. She is the daughter of songwriter and folk musician Terry Gilkyson and his wife, J ...
*'' Bright Side of Down'' (Red House, 2014)
*True in Time (Red House, 2018)
'
Other releases
Promotional EPs *'' Motor Folkin'Love Minus Zero/No Limit
"Love Minus Zero/No Limit" (read "Love Minus Zero over No Limit", sometimes titled "Love Minus Zero") is a song written by Bob Dylan for his fifth studio album '' Bringing It All Back Home'', released in 1965. Its main musical hook is a series of ...
" on ''A Tribute to Bob Dylan, Vol. 2'' ( SIS, 1994)
* "The Gypsy Life" on ''The Live from Mountain Stage, Vol. 8'' (Blue Plate, 1995)
* "The Water is Wide" on ''Where Have All the Flowers Gone: The Songs of Pete Seeger'' (Wundertüte Musik, 1998)
* "Sweet Love" on " Treasures Left Behind: Remembering Kate Wolf" (Red House, 1998)
* "Bracero" on '' What's That I Hear?: The Songs of Phil Ochs'' (Sliced Bread, 1998)
* "Out of My Mind" on '' When October Goes : Autumn Love Songs'' (Philo, 1998)
* "Thirsty Boots" (Eric Andersen
Eric Andersen (born February 14, 1943) is an American folk music singer-songwriter, who has written songs recorded by Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Judy Collins, Linda Ronstadt, the Grateful Dead and many others. Early in his career, in the 1960s, he ...
) on ''Bleecker Street: Greenwich Village in the 1960s'' (Astor Place Records, 1999)
* "Girl from the North Country
"Girl from the North Country" (occasionally known as "Girl ''of'' the North Country") is a song written by Bob Dylan. It was recorded at Columbia Recording Studios in New York City in April 1963, and released the following month as the second tra ...
" 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)
References
External links
Official Website
Red House Records Website
*
Extensive Dutch fansite
AIX Records Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gorka, John 1958 births Living people American people of Polish descent American baritones American folk guitarists American male guitarists American folk singers American male singer-songwriters Colonia High School alumni Fast Folk artists Singer-songwriters from New Jersey Musicians from Newark, New Jersey People from Woodbridge Township, New Jersey Windham Hill Records artists Moravian University alumni Guitarists from New Jersey 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American male musicians Red House Records artists Singer-songwriters from New York (state)