I started this brief series featuring modern folk artists with recollections of the late Red House Records president Bob Feldman. Bob alternated hosting KFAI’s old Sunday morning Urban Folk with Marian Moore. Bob’s theme song for his shows was John Gorka’s “The Gypsy Life.” Bob always played the whole thing. I think he heard in it the story of the artists he loved from their point of view. I must have listened to it more than a hundred times over the years the show was on the air and never tired of it. On the contrary, I looked forward to it.
Bob released Gorka’s first album on Red House before he moved on to Windham Hill and then recruited him back to Red House five albums later. He moved to Minnesota from the East Coast and lives in a small town on the St. Croix River. I see he has a show coming up this Saturday evening at the Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis. I may have to take my life in my hands and check it out. In any event, Steve Hayward should be back in the United States some time soon. Although I have a long list of artists I haven’t yet gotten around to yet, I am winding up this series today with “The Gypsy Life” and thoughts of Bob Feldman. The late Nanci Griffith took the harmony part on the recording.
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