It's been 5 years since John Gorka's latest studio album. There was the Red Horse collaboration with Lucy Kaplansky and Eliza Gilkyson in 2010 and they both turn up as backing vocalists on his forthcoming new album Bright Side of Down. Gorka has a warm baritone, the kind that fits his gentle storytelling folk songs like a glove, using a full band with a lonesome fiddle or going solo with his acoustic guitar, showing his picking skills.
Gorka is an artist's artist. His less is more approach and carefully executed songs earned him a small but loyal fanbase. Twelve albums and counting, John Gorka has added another chapter to his songbook that will continue to inspire his fellow Americana artist.
Bright Side of Down is released on Red House Records. Release date: March 4.
Tracks:- Holed Up Mason City
- Bright Side of Down
- High Horse
- More Than One
- She's That Kind of Woman
- Outnumbered
- Don't Judge a Life
- Honeybee
- Procrastination Blues
- Thirstier Wind
- Mind to Think
- Really Spring
- 02/21 The Mishawaka Amphitheatre, Bellevue, CO
- 02/22 Swallow Hill Music Hall, Denver, CO
- 03/06 Rogue Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Ashland, OR
- 03/07 Alberta Rose Theatre, Portland, OR
- 03/08 The Triple Door, Seattle, WA
- 03/09 St. James Hall, Vancouver, British Columbia
- 03/14 McCabe's Guitar Shop, Santa Monica, CA
- 03/15 San Dieguito United Methodist Church, Encinitas, CA
- 03/16 Fiddler's Crossing, Tehachapi, CA
- 03/27 SubCulture, New York, NY
- 03/28 The Sellersville Theater 1894, Sellersville, PA
- 03/29 The Birchmere, Alexandria, VA
- 04/03 Flying Goose Brewpub, New London, NH
- 04/04 Chandler Music Hall, Randolph, VT
- 04/05 Center for Arts in Natick, Natick, MA
- 04/06 St. Lawrence Arts at St. Lawrence Church, Portland, ME
- 04/24 CSPS, Cedar Rapids, IA
- 04/25 City Winery, Chicago, IL
- 04/26 Wheeler Community Arts Center, Indianapolis, IN
- 04/27 The Ark, Ann Arbor, MI
- 05/08 Auburn Public Theater, Auburn, NY
- 05/09 Eighth Step at Proctors, Schenectady, NY
- 05/10 Walkabout Clearwater Coffeehouse, White Plains, NY
- 05/16 Spring Gulch Folk Festival, New Holland, PA
- 06/06 Minstrel Coffeehouse at Morristown Unitarian Fellowship, Morristown, NJ
- 06/07 Congregational Church of Huntington, Centerport, NY
- 06/08 Godfrey Daniel's, Bethlehem, PA
- 06/21 Guthrie Center, Great Barrington, MA
- 06/28 Crossings at Carnegie, Zumbrota, MN
- 09/05 Rubin Museum of Art, New York, NY
- 09/13 Creekside Folk Music Festival, Atascadero, CA
- 09/20 Chatfield Center for the Arts, Chatfield, MN
- 10/24 Stone Mountain Arts Center, Brownfield, ME
- 12/05 Fiddle & Bow Society at Community Arts Cafe, Winston-Salem, NC
- 12/07 Mountain Spirit Coffeehouse at UU Asheville, Asheville, NC
HCTF review of Red Horse.