John
Gorka (CD-Release) In
many ways, John Gorka is a quintessential folkie: sensitive to the
forces of nature and the political trade winds, personally reflective
but with a global perspective that translates to the common man, keenly
observant, wryly witty, possessing a warm baritone voice, sufficiently
off-center to be consistently fresh and interesting, reasonably poetic,
from New Jersey (which, of course, boasts the Walt Whitman Service
Area on the Turnpike). By now a longtime Minnesotan, Gorka last month
released his 11th album of new material, So Dark You See (Red House),
which may sound like Dr. Seuss but actually comes from "Diminishing
Winds," one of several excellent new tunes that explore life's bittersweet
turns. It's a loose theme that threads through songs about sad farewells,
uncertain futures, hard times, and unrequited yearning. The goodbyes
include "A Fond Kiss," a Robert Burns poem set to new music, a quiet
original about a friend's sudden death ("Can't Get Over It") that
muses on the ephemeral, and a fine cover of the late Utah Phillips's
"I Think of You." "Ignorance and Privilege" is autobiography in the
context of larger problems, and contemporary issues seep in via "Night
into Day" and "Live By the Sword," which seems to vent on the previous
occupants of D.C. Glimmers of hope, meanwhile, come from a fine version
of the blues nugget "Trouble in Mind."
John Gorka live in the
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