From: owner-good-noise-digest@smoe.org (good-noise-digest) To: good-noise-digest@smoe.org Subject: good-noise-digest V2 #4 Reply-To: good-noise@smoe.org Sender: owner-good-noise-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-good-noise-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk good-noise-digest Friday, January 8 1999 Volume 02 : Number 004 Today's Subjects: ----------------- John is the top artist for 1998! [Chris Thorpe ] Gorka review [Achimera@aol.com] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 07 Jan 1999 09:53:03 -0500 From: Chris Thorpe Subject: John is the top artist for 1998! TOP ARTISTS OF 1998 Compiled by Richard Gillmann from FOLKDJ-L radio playlists Based on 104920 airplays. 1. John Gorka (449) 2. Dar Williams (411) 3. Bob Dylan (372) 4. Nanci Griffith (371) 5. Greg Brown (355) 6. Salamander Crossing (345) 7. Bill Monroe (344) 8. Lucinda Williams (335) 9. Gillian Welch (287) 10. Emmylou Harris (286) 11. Pete Seeger (269) 12. Chuck Brodsky (253) 12. Ellis Paul (253) 14. John McCutcheon (252) 15. Laurie Lewis (250) 16. Carrie Newcomer (245) 17. Dar Williams, Lucy Kaplansky And Richard Shindell (242) ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1999 16:50:36 EST From: Achimera@aol.com Subject: Gorka review Dear Friends, I found this review and thought I would share. Album Review: John Gorka-After Yesterday(Red House) by Todd Denton October 1998 John Gorka - After Yesterday (Red House) I've always considered John Gorka to be one of folk music's brightest young singer/songwriters. His stories are honest, his melodies always interesting and memorable, and his voice one of the warmest and richest in texture. He's consistent too. As always, what you get from Gorka on record is basically what you get if you see him on the coffeehouse stage: an instant, personal and direct connection to his artistry and personality. After Yesterday marks his return to the Red House imprint after a ten-year junket on Windham Hill, but nothing about Gorka has changed in the transition. Here again, his songs are adorned primarily with his own acoustic guitar fingerpicking, plus a few added textures from Peter Ostroushko (mandolin, fiddle), Dean Magraw (acoustic guitar), Michael Manring (bass), Lucy Kaplansky (harmony vocals), and co-producer John Jennings (various instruments). (Jennings is best-known for his many collaborations with Mary Chapin Carpenter.) Gorka shares a familiar sentiment as he longs for Winter's end in "When The Ice Goes Out" -- with its hopeful message and catchy "shiver me this" hook, the opening cut is sure to please radio listeners. "Cypress Trees" and "After Yesterday" capture the bittersweetness of impending parenthood; later, peek into the crib with Gorka as he brags about his new son "When He Cries." "Amber Lee" and "Zuly" are more of Gorka's trademark character studies, and "St. Caffeine" is a bluegrass-flavored, tongue-in-cheek tribute to "the patron saint of consciousness." Long-time fans will be surprised to hear Gorka make his recording debut on the five-string banjo on this new project. Still, the words and the voice are front and center, and the instrumentation is always complementary. Gorka's greatest accomplishment may be his consistency in putting out high- quality material time after time. My all-time favorite may still be Land Of The Bottom Line, but this one is also very highly recommended. ------------------------------ End of good-noise-digest V2 #4 ******************************