PUTNEY — Next Stage Arts Project and Twilight Music present contemporary folk singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist John Gorka at Next Stage on Sunday, Feb. 9, at 7:30 p.m.
Twisting, turning, and tying words and phrases, Gorka works every nuance of language to capture a wide array of topics and experiences woven into memorable melodies.
Gorka is perhaps the quintessential iconic singer/songwriter of the 1980s folk scene. Hailing from New Jersey, he honed his craft and persona as a shy, wry, and insightful singer/songwriter in the Greenwich Village “Fast Folk” and Boston music scenes.
He got his start at Godfrey Daniels, a neighborhood coffeehouse in eastern Pennsylvania that is among the oldest and most venerable music institutions in the country. After releasing his first album with Minnesota-based Red House Records in 1987, he recorded five albums with Windham Hill's Will Ackerman's High Street Records between 1989 and 1996.
Since then he has released seven more solo albums on Red House, plus one with label-mates Lucy Kaplansky and Eliza Gilkyson under the name Red Horse. He continues to tour, playing festivals, theaters, and clubs all over North America and Europe. Rolling Stone magazine calls him “the leading singer-songwriter of the New Folk Movement.”
Many well known artists have recorded and/or performed John Gorka songs, including Mary Chapin Carpenter, Nanci Griffith, Mary Black, and Maura O'Connell. John has graced the stage of Austin City Limits, Mountain Stage, and etown and has appeared on CNN.
His song, “Where No Monuments Stand,” is featured in the documentary Every War Has Two Losers, about activist and Oregon Poet Laureate William Stafford.