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Thanks
everyone, for coming out for this evening's FB Interview with John Gorka!
We're ready to start...) |
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Hello
there |
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So
John, yesterday on your Facebook profile, you expressed some concern with
tackling an interview in this online chat format for the first time...And
your info box states: "I've got one foot in the old world and one foot
in the new... I'm an immigrant living in the digital world and I don't
yet speak the language." So how has it been going so far for you, navigating
within the new digital forms of communication; what kinds of surprises
and disconnects are you encountering, and surely there must be a new song
in there somewhere? ;-) |
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I
like technology and I love music. Sometimes the first can help with the
second and sometimes it gets in the way |
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In what way can it get in the way? |
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I've
been interested in recording at home for quite some time but only recently
have I been able to do what I have wanted to do. The problem with modern
recording technology is that there are too many choices. |
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John,
let's take best advantage of our time this evening and jump right into
your latest album, "So Dark You See". You've built up such a substantial
body of work now...do you tend to always see the latest project as your
"best and most interesting" work? Where do place/consider "So Dark You
See" in context of what's come before it? |
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I
try to translate what I'm feeling and what I'm thinking about into sounds
and words. Most of the time I just try to get out of the way of the songs.
I try to take my cues from where the sparks are coming from. The songs
seem to come from a wiser place that way. |
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The
passage of time appears to be a major theme of this album, across many
of the songs. Have you been in a particularly contemplative mood lately
on aging and the passage of the years? |
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I
guess I am at an age where quite a few of my heroes and champions have
passed on and now also some of my friends too. |
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We're
both the same age and so therefore turned 50 not all that long ago...did
this hold any kind of major personal significance for you? |
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No,
I didn't make a big deal of it. I was out playing music at The Falcon
Ridge Folk Festival and celebrating with friends there. They had a tornado
in my honor. |
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Nice
touch! "Diminishing Winds" is interesting, because it's and older, unfinished
song that you completed for the latest album...and yet it's right in there
thematically with the rest of it... |
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Yes,
it's a lot more real to me now than when I started it. |
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"Where
No Monuments Stand" appears to be a central song on this album for you...?
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I
have so many songs now about service people and war. I'm glad to have
Mr. Stafford's poem about a place where war did not break out and where
no soldier had to go. Maybe if we listened to what the poets and pacifists
have to say, maybe we could avoid the next unnecessary war. |
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John,
you've built a lot of your reputation on contemplative relationship character
sketches, but most of your albums feature one song in particular where
you vent your spleen, so to speak, and slip the shiv between the ribs
of a specific issue of social concern. Would it be fair to say that "Live
By the Sword" is this album's "Where the Bottles Break"? |
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Yes
sir. It's about a latter day example of the darker side of human nature..
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Community
with your peers has always seemed important to you John. You've done excellent
covers of other people's songs, and many of your peers have covered yours.
You always have a coterie of fine guests dropping in on every album...on
this latest, the excellent Eliza Gilkyson and Lucy Kaplansky, for example...
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One
of my all time favorite things about playing music has been the people
I have gotten to meet and sing and record with. I'm working on a record
with Lucy and Eliza called "Red Horse". We're doing each others' songs,
one of our own and an outside cover. |
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Excellent!
What's the projection for completing that and having it out? |
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We
are hoping to have it all mixed and mastered next month and out sometime
in the summer. |
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Do
you find that these kind of collaborations help keep the creative juices
flowing for you? And can we ask what the outside cover is? |
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What
I mean by an outside cover is that we will each record a song that none
of us has written. I will do an Eliza song, a Lucy song, one of mine and
a song Archie Fisher recorded "Coshieville" by Stewart MacGregor. I'm
hoping I spelled SM's name correctly. |
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Speaking
of covers, "The Dutchman", originally by Michael Smith and made popular
by Steve Goodman, is the central cover version on your last album...
Was it different tacking a song this well known, any concern about bringing
something new to it?
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It
was a song I'd loved and learned from Mr. Goodman's recording many years
ago. It was one of those songs like Townes Van Zant's "Pancho & Lefty"
that changed forever the idea of what a song could be. I played in Holland
for the first time in 13 or 14 years in October of 2008 and was sitting
around playing songs with Willem one of the people who brought me over.
He knows a lot about American singer songwriters and I asked him if he
knew the song "The Dutchman" by Michael Smith. He said he didn't. I downloaded
the lyrics from the internet and played it for him. He was moved by the
song and I was moved by him being moved, so I recorded it as soon as I
got home and it made it on the record. Michael and I were born in the
same hospital in New Jersey so I thought it might be okay if I put his
song on a record once again. |
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I
next want to wind the time machine back a little, but first, lets take
a couple of guest questions... P Bryn Benson asks: This music junkie wants
to know: When (if ever) do you plan to record your Body Parts Medley?
Oh Please? |
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I
have many live recordings here at home that I have not sorted through.
It's possible that there is a good version of that song that could make
it on some sort of recording. Thank you for asking about it Bryn. |
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Leigh-Ann
Pellerin asks: I have a little bit of a personal question for John...
I was curious what song he and his wife chose to dance their first dance
as a married couple on their wedding day and why? I have seen a still
picture somewhere (maybe "the Artists Profile?) of that moment and began
to wonder, "what song does someone who makes such beautiful and heartfelt
music himself, select to capture the importance of that moment?" |
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I think it was "Wild Thing". |
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hmm,
I think there's a wink that should go with that! ;-) Kathryn McCann asks:
John, what song is it that you always come home to. Is there a song that
when noodling, or doing a soundcheck that you always comes back to! :)
(and who was it EXACTLY you gazed upon that inspired People My Age) LOL!
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How
about "What a Wonderful World"? I sing this one too sometimes. My wife
does "Wild Thing".
People My Age is a song I perform almost every night whether I want to
or not. Sometimes you must sing the truth to the People, whether they
want to hear your truth or not. |
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Adam
McIntyre: John, What is the story behind your latest song 'That was the
year" ? my four year old loves it and I wonder what the inspiration was? |
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It
comes from that first line "That was the year he combed his hair". It
popped into my head just like "Edgar the Party Man". It was there and
I had to see where it would lead... |
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So let's set the controls of our Time Tardis back some...and I apologize
in advance for this long preamble: In the late 50s-early 60s, there was
a folk boom where well-scrubbed folkies wearing College Letters broke
through to the mainstream with their campfire songs. In the mid-late 60s,
"The Great Folk Scare" brought acoustic protest music to the forefront.
In the early '70s, a lot of West Coast soft rock was more-or-less mildly
amplified folk and country. After which "folk music" seemed not to disturb
the mainstream for many years/decades until the early 90s, when "The New
Folk Movement" made waves, with you (I'm guessing, somewhat reluctantly)
pushed to the forefront. What was your reaction to this at the time, and
now, in retrospect? |
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I wanted to be a part of the world that I discovered on record and live
at Godfrey Daniels Coffeehouse. I don't know if what I do is folk music
but I want to make music that people find useful. I want them to see themselves
in the songs. I was glad that I had the chance to reach a pretty large
bunch of people in that bygone time. |
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Do
you feel that this concentrated burst of attention ended up helping, or
hindering your career over the long term? I always wondered if being touted
a leader of the "new folk movement" was somewhat your generation's equivalent
of "the new Dylan" kiss-of-death of the previous generation... |
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I
knew the reason I was called that was because I was the only one who didn't
mind being called a folksinger. Everybody else who was doing essentially
the same thing ran from the "f word". |
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In
the mid-90s, there seemed to be an attempt to toy with the mainstream
country market...thoughts about that strategy in retrospect? |
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I
thought if I could make the kind of music that was in me, I didn't care
about marketing strategy. The country music tv people were open to my
music the radio people not so much. |
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John,
when you started hanging out at eastern Penn club Godfrey Daniels in the
late 70s/early 80s, you paid your dues. You served as resident M.C., soundman,
listened and learned, began to build relationships, eventually began to
open for headlining artists. Do you think some young singer-songwriters
today aren't always prepared to put in the work and time? That they expect
things to happen too fast? That the easy means of production can make
things almost too "easy" in a way? |
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I
felt very lucky to be able to hang around Godfrey's for so many years.
When I was still in college, it was my favorite class. The world is so
different now than when I started I can't comment about the new generations'
work ethic. I think if people write good songs and do good shows, people
will take notice and the world will open up. It also helps if you are
not a sociopath. My focus has always been on the songs and the live show.
If you can get that going you can maintain your independence from the
whims of the marketplace. |
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John
Lowrance asks: John, can you share some tech stuff? What pickup do you
use in your guitars? Is there a favored effect for your voice / guitar?
Are you running thru a pre-amp/modeling device? In general how do you
get that great sound for your live and recording performances? |
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I play a Martin OM-28VR guitar with Highlander pickup system (internal
mic and pickup). I play through a D-Tar Solstice pre-amp. For recording
I have some very good mics, mic-pres and analog to digital converters.
I also work with some very talented recording engineers and producers. |
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Like
all or at least most artists who have built up your kind of respected
body of work, there are songs, often from much earlier in your career,
that have become iconic audience favorites. Some artists have a love-hate
relationship with these children of theirs. What's your relationship now
with songs like "I'm From New Jersey", "I Saw a Stranger With Your Hair",
"Houses in the Fields", etc....the songs that people would be disappointed
if you didn't play them every concert? |
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I'm
glad I have those songs. People have told me what those particular songs
have meant to them and their interpretations of the songs have made them
larger in my imagination than the original idea. That has made them very
easy to do every night. |
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A
"trademark" of yours is your rich, baritone singing voice. What strikes
me is that it's quite a contrast from your speaking voice and stage "banter"
voice. Did this singing voice come naturally to you, or what is something
that you "developed" and honed like an instrument? |
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I don't really like my speaking voice too much. The singing and the words
to the songs seem to come from a wiser place. It's a place I'd like to
live more of the time... |
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Wry
humor is another Gorka trademark. In the recordings, it can be very subtle
and deadpan. Live you get to ham it up a little with facial expressions
and whatnot. Fans also love your low-key, self-deprecating between-song
banter. Again, does this humor come naturally to you, or was it/is it
something that you cultivated and developed? I almost get the sense it
might have started early on as a coping mechanism for someone who was
basically shy on stage...? |
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Yes,
I was never all that comfortable being a performer especially early on,
but I was drawn to it. I think I worked at the so-called humor to help
balance out the seriousness of some of the songs. I like playing live
now more than ever. |
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Btw,
my wife Sylvie has long dreamed of showing up at one of your concerts
wearing a wig, and as you complete "Stranger with Your Hair", walk up
to the stage and return the hair to you... ;-) |
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In
a Federal Express outfit. |
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I'll
remind her of that touch! You mentioned the "wiser place" that your singing
and words come from...can you describe for us some of your songwriting
process. Are there any consistent trends? Music or lyrics first? Flashes
of rapid inspiration where stuff pours out from some mysterious well,
this wiser place, or weeks/months of painful assembly and editing? Or
all of the above at various times? |
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Do
you have Federal Express in Canada? |
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(Yes
to Federal Express!) |
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My
idea is that the songs can come from anywhere and I just try to open to
the signals that a song is knocking at my door. My best time for lyrics
is in the morning when I'm not fully awake and am monitoring the thoughts
and images that are passing through my mind. Long car rides are also lyrically
productive times. I get good musical ideas in the evening often right
before a show when I should be thinking about what I'm about to play.
I often find myself playing something that I've never played before. The
songs can come easy and fast or hard and slow. I try to let them tell
me what they are and where they want to do. Otherwise, I risk stunting
their growth. |
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You
released "The Gypsy Life" DVD in 2007....did you view this as some kind
of career summation to date? An encapsulation of John Gorka "to this point"?
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I
was very glad Mark and the people at AIX were interested in doing that
project. It is a bunch of my favorite songs from the first 20 years of
recording and I got to do it with some of my favorite musicians and friends.
I'm a lucky person... |
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So
the standard, nearing the end, "what's next for John Gorka?" question...You
were just in the studio recording today! What's the inside scoop? What's
coming up live and recording-wise for you? |
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I
was working on the "Red Horse" record this morning. I think you'll be
hearing more fretless banjo on one of the songs. |
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John Lowrance asks: John, I guess every songwriter likes a cover of his/her
work by a big star...but always wondered how you feel when a little local
group or some one on u-tube does your work? |
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I
am very flattered. I'm glad to have the songs out there and if they find
a useful place, then I have done my job. |
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John:
where can people best go online to engage in that ancient ritual of exchanging
$$ for John Gorka recordings? |
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If they go to the johngorka.com website they can get signed copies of
all the in print physical cds. I am also the guy who gets them to the
post office, most of the time. They can sign up for my email list there
too. I am not very prolific in the production of newsletters but I feel
one coming on... |
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Thanks
to everyone who lurked and/or participated in tonight's Facebook Interview
session with John! I've posted a thread at the top of the page where those
of you who attended the interview can leave feedback. Remember as well
that there are audio and video clips for you to check out further down
the page if you'd like to linger a little longer...John, thanks again,
and goodnight all! |
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You
can also go to Redhouserecords.com. They can help you out too and iTunes
and Amazon and on...
Good Night and Thank You! |
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