“One of the most talented singer songwriters this area has ever produced.” Joseph Blake Victoria Times
Balladeer & actor John Gogo hails from a musical family in Snuneymuxw aka Nanaimo, on Vancouver Island. He’s best known for writing and performing his folk songs about the people and places, the true and the tall tales of the Canadian west coast, the islands in particular. From Haida Gwaii to St. John’s to Old Crow, John has played community halls and big houses, festivals and pubs, theatres and beer parlours with such notable and diverse artists as Willie P. Bennett, Blue Shadows, Valdy, Crash Test Dummies, Australian Paul Kelly and Fred Eaglesmith.
John has just produced and released his 6th lp ‘Western Balladeer’ featuring the single and video ‘The Morning After’. An unpublished, virtually unknown Robert Service poem written circa 1900 on the back of a bank draft, Service promptly gave it away to his banking colleague. Roughly 120 years later the poem was gifted to John for the express purpose of turning it into a song. After writing the music and a chorus lyric, John asked his brother Paul Gogo (Trooper) to play a barroom style piano track. Ultimately recognizing the song’s great duet potential, John invited Canadian folk music icon Valdy to lend his voice to the song.
‘Western Balladeer’ also includes 6 new John Gogo songs: Larry’s Grandad, Cougar Annie, More Than He Dreamed, The Last Train, Chief Tony, and Bella Cascadia. Tom Three Persons (Indian Cowboy) is a co-write with Ed Peekeekoot who also contributed electric guitar to the track. The hauntingly beautiful ballads D’Arcy Island and Sally June were written by Tobin Stokes and Alan Moberg respectively, with Stokes playing piano on his song and Moberg singing harmony on his.
‘Western Balladeer’ features John’s daughters, singers Jeri Gogo and Jena Gogo along with Jena’s partner Eric Duquette (aka ‘Duke & Goldie’) as well as Tyler Lieb on pedal steel guitar and bassist (and cousin!) Brent Gubbels. Other featured performers are David Essig on lap steel, Rick Scott and his dulcimer while Dazy Weymer sang a bass vocal & Daniel Lapp played some sweet fiddle.
‘Western Balladeer’ is on the major streaming platforms and available on CD.