Songwriter, guitarist and vocalist John Gorka performs at 7 p.m. June 8, Godfrey Daniels, 7 E. Fourth St., Bethlehem, the very place where as a Moravian College student, he watched in rapt awe the musicians who would inspire his own career.

Gorka, born in Colonia, N.J., settled in Minnesota with his wife in 1996.

In a recent phone interview from his home in Minneapolis, Gorka says there were two categories of people who inspired him: those he heard on the radio and those he saw perform at Godfrey Daniels, the not-for-profit "music-listening club" founded in 1976 that has garnered a national reputation.

Earl Scruggs, Pete Seeger, Tony Trischka and Bela Fleck are just some of the many talents who inspired Gorka. His interest in music began early.

"I was a bluegrass banjo player at the age of 14 or 15. That was the instrument I took to. Six months later, I started playing guitar."

Gorka also tried his hand at songwriting as a youth, knowing he had much to learn. "I worked within my abilities, and then expanded on them."

He brought his musical ability to Moravian. "There was a freshman-orientation coffeehouse, which I signed up for. I lived on the south campus [of Moravian]," says Gorka, "on Church Street. It was about a 10-minute walk. I went to Godfrey Daniels as often as I could. I'd go there halfway through a performance so I could afford the price."

After graduating with a double major in history and philosophy from Moravian College in 1980, Gorka continued to play at Godfrey Daniels, where he hosted the Sunday night open mic and began opening for Nanci Griffith, Bill Morrissey and Claudia Schmidt.

"But my music was all over the place," says Gorka. "There was a woman, Margaret Christl, from Canada, who said to me, 'Maybe you should specialize.'" So, he concentrated on songwriting.

It paid off.

In 1984, Gorka was one of six winners chosen from the finalists in the New Folk Competition at the Kerrville Folk Festival.

In 1991, Rolling Stone magazine called him "the preeminent male singer-songwriter of the New Folk Movement."

Gorka signed with High Street Records and recorded five albums. He has toured worldwide. "I like the challenge of playing in countries where English is not their first language," says Gorka. "I like to tell a joke, and make them laugh."

In 1998, Gorka signed with Red House Records, which released "After Yesterday."

The album, "Old Futures Gone" (2003), regaled his life of husband and father and a hard life on the road.

His songs are a mixture of fact and invention. "Sometimes they are completely fiction," says Gorka, "and other times they are autobiographical."

Twelve critically-acclaimed albums later, Gorka's latest CD, "Bright Side of Down" (Red House Records), released in March, differs from his previous releases. There are guest vocal appearances by Red House's Lucy Kaplansky, Eliza Gilkyson, Claudia Schmidt and Michael Johnson.

"I had great special guests. And I tried to build the record around my vocal and guitar performances, so that if fans come to see me, it would not be a world of difference."