John Gorka

Hailing from New Jersey, singer-songwriter John Gorka gained notice for his rich, emotive baritone as a central figure in the new folk movement that surfaced during the mid-1980s. While enrolled at a Pennsylvania college in the early 1980s, he took the stage at local coffeehouse open-mike nights and later assembled the Razzy Dazzy Spasm Band. He soon embarked on East Coast tours before relocating to Texas, where he captured the Kerrville Folk Festival New Folk Award in 1984.

Gorka issued his first album, I Know, on Red House in 1987 and earned praise for the understated humor and sharp character studies in his material. After signing with Windham Hill he released Land of the Bottom Line in 1990 and Jack's Crows two years afterward. On 1993’s Temporary Road the single and video “When She Kisses Me” received notable country radio exposure, leading to support tours with Mary Chapin Carpenter and Nanci Griffith.

For 1994’s Out of the Valley he headed to Nashville to work with producer John Jennings, who assembled a roster of guests that included Carpenter, Kathy Mattea, guitarist Leo Kottke, and Fairport Convention drummer Dave Mattacks. Between Five and Seven appeared in 1996, followed by After Yesterday in 1998. Company You Keep arrived in early 2001 and featured appearances by Carpenter, Patty Larkin, and Lucy Kaplansky. The introspective Old Futures Gone came out in 2003, with Writing in the Margins following in 2006. So Dark You See surfaced in 2009, and the collaborative Red Horse, recorded with Eliza Gilkyson and Lucy Kaplansky, emerged in 2010.

Although several years passed without new recordings, Gorka maintained a consistent touring schedule. He returned in March 2014 with The Bright Side of Down. Two years later an alternate take of his debut, previously unreleased and recorded in Nashville in 1985, appeared as Before Beginning: The Unreleased I Know - Nashville, 1985.

In late 2017, working once more with longtime producer Rob Genadek and a circle of veteran friends and collaborators, Gorka laid down twelve tracks. Issued the following January under the title True in Time, the collection contained fresh compositions along with two long-lost numbers, “Blues with a Rising Sun” and “Red Eye & Roses,” recovered from fan recordings. Gorka and his musicians tracked live in the studio, inventing parts on the spot or refining ideas drawn from earlier circulated demos.