Join us for an evening with John Gorka, the acclaimed folk singer-songwriter, returning for a live performance on the Wild Rose Moon Radio Hour. Monday, June 2nd, 2025 at 7 PM on 88.1 WVPE.
On his fourth trip to Wild Rose Moon Radio Hour, John Gorka discusses a trip to Thomas Wolfe’s home in North Carolina and his stint of volunteering and then working for Sing Out! magazine. When Pete Seeger and Mark Moss offered him a full-time job working for the folk music publication, he penned the song "Land of the Bottom Line,” which describes his trepidation about taking the full-time job. The clever song describes the very human trade-offs involved in the assignment.
Freedom for freedom
Call that an even scheme
Give me time to wonder and to dream
I need the money
They'll take the time
Down to the land of the bottom line
After the song, John briefly describes his alliance with singer-songwriter and talent agent David Tamulevich and segues to his beginnings, which were sparked by Jack Hardy encouraging him to submit his song “Branching Out” to the Kerrville Folk Festival. Winning the accolades of the judges and audience, he took home the top prize in the contest, and the award helped launch his music career. During the song, John encourages the audience to take a break from sitting by stretching their hands into the air during the chorus’ catchy lyrics, which also reflect John’s philosophical relationship to the world. At the end of the song, he cleverly remarks, “Very nice stretching. Good extension. Excellent!”
And I'm gonna reach, I'm gonna reach
I'm gonna reach, reach for the sky
I'm gonna reach, I'm gonna reach
I'm gonna reach, till I know why
After the break, Culver Academy’s student, Xinlang (Ray) Fan, performs one of his original compositions entitled “The Journey” on the house piano. A student of the celebrated Plymouth musician and teacher, Clara Wooley, Ray’s creation was a finalist in the 2024 International Piano Composition Contest. Ray describes the moving piece as holding a range of different emotions, from sadness to anger to happiness. Following the song, the “Shoot the Moon” Game Show ensues with guests Matt Hovermale, Director of the Plymouth Chamber of Commerce, and Kurt Hoffman, a Clinical Psychologist from Fort Wayne, Indiana. The contestants answer questions that directly relate to John Gorka’s biography, including “Spamalot, or Not,” during which John recounts his trip to the Spam Museum (in Minnesota, where John now resides), which he describes as “delicious.”
After the game show and the break, the show returns with John playing the early British folk tune, “The Water is Wide.” During John’s heartwarming performance, he points out the last verse (added by Pete Seeger) and then encourages the audience to sing along on the chorus.
His performance concludes with his brilliantly conceived song, “Oh, Abraham,” which John introduces this way: “I was reading about Abraham Lincoln and about some of the things he wrote and said and did, and also at the same time I was reading one of those Beat Generation books about Jack Kerouac and his pals. He had a lot of jobs before he became well-known as a writer, and one of them was working on a crew that helped build the Pentagon. I loved that idea, so this is the only song I have that has Abraham Lincoln and Jack Kerouac in it.”
Oh, Abraham, was it all about the money then?
Oh, Abraham, good night.
It's your party, but I'll cry if I want to
All powered up and charmed with might
And so we’re right, we’re always right.
We’re right, they’re wrong, let them get their own song.
We’re right, they’re wrong, let them get their own song.
I see a penny and I pick it up,
99 more and I have buck.
Abe, you were born in old Kentuck,
But we still miss you here.
And we concur and conclude with John’s final words, “Thanks, everybody, for listening.”
- George Schricker
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