John Gorka Premieres New Studio Album, TRUE IN TIME on NPR's Folk Alley

Iconic singer-songwriter John Gorka's new studio album, TRUE IN TIME, is premiering now at NPR's Folk Alley. They cite the album's "deep and meaningful songs" and write that "Gorka's soulful voice, songwriting, and guitar work are what we're here for, and they are given center stage." TRUE IN TIME will be released on Friday, January 19, 2018 on Red House Records. John will be one of the performers at Folk Alliance International this year performing at a special showcase celebrating Red House's 35th Anniversary. Details will be announced soon.
Listen to the entire album at Folk Alley here.

This is Gorka's first new studio album since 2014's BRIGHT SIDE OF DOWN and it's an engaging, personal album that shows the full range of Gorka's artistry, exhibiting his spirited acoustic guitar playing, insightful lyrics and wry, witty storytelling. Produced by Rob Genadek at Uptown Sound in Minneapolis, it features a band of some of the Twin Cities best musicians in live sessions, with vocal cameos contributed by fellow folk luminaries Jonatha Brooke, Eliza Gilkyson, and Lucy Kaplansky.

The tracks capture the sound of career musicians (and friends) who understand where Gorka's music comes from and instinctively know what to contribute. You can hear the songs lock into place with a spontaneity and vibe that makes you, the listener, feel as if you've been invited to sit in. There's a warmth, both sonically and in the interaction of the players, that makes this one of Gorka's best, and that's saying something.

The tracks sound fresh and lived in at the same time. "A lot of the songs on this record remind me of Utah Phillips' line 'The past didn't go anywhere' and Faulkner's 'The past is never dead. It's not even past,'" says Gorka of the album's themes.

"I wrote the title song with Pete Kennedy (The Kennedys). When Carrie Fisher and her mom, Debbie Reynolds, died within a day of each other I quoted lines from Paul Simon's 'Mother and Child Reunion' on Facebook - 'Oh I would not give you false hope on this strange and mournful day. But a mother and child reunion is only a motion away.' Pete responded, 'Maybe all songs come true in time.' Later he wrote, 'True in time sounds like a song,' and we proceeded to write the song long distance via email. We collaborated on the title and the lyrics and I came up with the tune," Gorka says. "I think that 'What is true?' is a question a lot of us are asking today." John Gorka continues to find new insights in the commonplace, beauty in the ordinary, the twist of bitter in the sweet, all delivered with one of the most distinctive folk voices of our time. The iconic songwriter's 14th album will be out January 19 on Red House Records. Pre-order now at Amazon and iTunes TRACK TITLES
1. True in Time
2. Nazarene Guitar
3. Arroyo Seco
4. Tattooed
5. Mennonite Girl
6. Crowded Heart
7. Fallen for You
8. Cry for Help
9. The Body Parts Medley
10. Red Eye & Roses
11. Blues with a Rising Sun
12. The Ballad of Iris & Pearl
13. True in Time (reprise) FOCUS TRACKS
1. True in Time
2. Nazarene Guitar

TOUR DATES
FR 1/19 World Cafe Live - Philadelphia, PA
SA 1/20 Grunin Center for the Perf.Arts - Toms River, NJ
MO 1/22 Straz Center for the Perf. Arts - Tampa, FL
FR 1/26 Crossings at Carnegie - Zumbrota, MN
TH 2/01 McMillan Library - Wisconsin Rapids, WI
FR 2/09 Freight and Salvage - Berkeley, CA
SA 2/10 The Center for the Arts - Grass Valley, CA
SU 2/11 Sutter Creek Theatre - Sutter Creek, CA
TH - SA 2/14-2/17 Folk Alliance International, Kansas City, MO
SU 2/18 Swallow Hill Music Hall - Denver, CO
WE 2/28 Soho Restaurant - Santa Barbara, CA
TH 3/01 The Ojai Woman's Club - Ojai, CA
FR 3/02 AMSD Concerts at Laura R Charles Theater - National City, CA
SA 3/03 Caltech Beckman Institute Auditorium - Pasadena, CA
FR 3/09 Auburn Public Theater - Auburn, NY
SA 3/10 The Universalist Church - West Hartford, CT
SU 3/11 Iron Horse - Northampton, MA
MO 3/12 City Vineyard at Pier 26 - New York City, NY
FR 3/23 Alberta Rose Theatre - Portland, OR
SA 3/24 Phinney Neighborhood Center - Seattle, WA
TH 3/29 Baldwin's Station - Sykesville, MD
FR 3/30 The Queen - Wilmington, DE
SA 3/31 The Sellersville Theater - Sellersville, PA
FR 4/20 King Arts Complex - Columbus, OH
TH 4/26 Flying Goose Brewpub - New London, NH
FR 4/27 One Longfellow Square - Portland, ME
SA 4/28 Ivy Chord Coffeehouse at Unitarian Universalist Church of Reading - Reading, MA
SU 4/29 Eighth Step at Proctors - Schenectady, NY
SA 5/12 Hopkins Center for the Arts - Hopkins, MN
FR 5/18 The Barn - Provincetown, MA
SA 5/19 Stone Mountain Arts Center - Brownfield, ME
SU 5/20 Next Stage Arts Project - Putney, VT
SU 5/27 Kerrville Folk Festival - Kerrville, TX
SA 6/01 Brunswick, ME - Unitarian Universalist Church of Brunswick
TH 6/14 Casa De Musica Songwriting Residency with Eliza Gilkyson - Taos, NM
FR 7/06 Club Passim - Cambridge, MA
SA 7/07 New Bedford Folk Festival - New Bedford, MA
SU 7/08 New Bedford Folk Festival - New Bedford, MA
TH 8/09 Lunenburg Folk Harbour Festival - Lunenburg, Nova Scotia
FR 9/21 Firehouse Center for the Arts - Newburyport, MA
SA 9/22 First Universalist Society Meeting House - Franklin, MA
FR 10/12 Schreiner University Cailloux Campus Activities Center - Kerrville, TX
SA 11/10 Shady Grove Coffeehouse @ Unitarian Universalist Community Church - Glen

To post a comment, you must register and login.