Recognized in folk circles for her incredible voice and intelligent songwriting since the mid 90's, Michigan-based Terry Gonda held back on releasing a full length album until she believed her performance and outlook on life had ripened sufficiently. The results can be heard on her first full-length CD, "love, lose, repeat", and the strategy appears to have worked. The KCC Music Room recently commented "Gonda's work shows a maturity and warmth missing from much of the music scene these days. Her rich voice is the perfect delivery medium for her songs of real life." England's BBC Radio 2's Bob Harris was so moved by her voice on the CD that he teased the audience of his national country show with a cut from her CD for two weeks in a row--six weeks before its release.
Part of Gonda's earlier ambivalence can be traced to the fact she is one of those powerful performers that are difficult to categorize. "I've never fit into a tidy box", confesses the engineer-theologian-singer-songwriter-counselor. Yet this same diversity is her strength as her remarkable voice moves so naturally from insightful folk to humor to torch to pop and inspirational music. In addition, that voice is backed up by accomplished guitar work and an engaging and warm delivery of original and carefully chosen cover material. The Detroit Free Press described a performance as "positively lucid" and "intoxicating" and Maryland concert producer, Sherry Panzer says, "Terry is more than a singer-songwriter. Her show is a performance with beautifully interwoven stories, songs and poems. It's always a treat to see where she'll take us in any given show".
Her somewhat opposing passions were well established by childhood. At age 9, she was repairing the chains on the neighborhood bikes, wreaking havoc on the ball field, longing to "be a saint", and taking guitar lessons. Initially inspired by the diversity of rich melodies on her Detroit radio and the folk group at her Catholic church, St. Valentine's, she was ultimately drawn to the singer-songwriters, such as James Taylor, Carole King, Dan Fogelberg, and later, the Indigo Girls. She played their songs and her own at school, joined the church folk group and performed in local musical theatre productions. But her other interests called out to her as well. Not one to be pinned down, she headed out in multiple directions all-at-once. So it was, that while a full time research engineer for the Army and a church choir music director, she struck out musically in the mid 90's; landing Kerrville, Rocky Mtn, and Falcon Ridge Folk Festival songwriting contests and showcases. At the same time, she also began leading workshops and retreats and even found herself in the ministry of aiding in the healing journey of young adults who were abuse survivors.
While successful in her multiple vocations, she was continually plagued by both the drive to make an album and the resistance to do so--unclear of a direction to take and unwilling to settle for a freshman effort. She gradually became aware that the unifying element in all the aspects of her life was the seemingly endless amount of love that she brought to and received from all her endeavors. By making love the focus, the full length CD grew to ripeness and so did the performer.
While the title may seem a bit cynical, love, lose, repeat is actually an homage to the many faces and cycles of love in our life. It acknowledges that loss is an inevitable part of the journey, but it is not the end. Via pop, folk, country, blues, and rock, Terry works out her musical and love demons of ambivalence and emerges victorious as an engaging and more honest performer.
On "love, lose, repeat", Terry runs the gamut of traditional/celtic inspired folk, story songs, blues, torch, and pop. Cover tracks include Karla Bonoff's "Home", Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now", Townes Van Zant's "If I Needed You", and a medley of "When You Wish Upon a Star/Someone to Watch Over Me", which Singer Magazine claims is "worth the price of admission alone".
The album features Caroline Aiken on backing vocals, Straight Ahead bass player Marion Hayden, and Detroit multi-instrumentalist David Mosher on guitar, bass, fiddle, mandolin, and backing vocals.
In addition to the Midwest, Eastern and Southern USA regions, terry has performed at London's acclaimed 12 Bar Club, at the Greenbelt Festival in Cheltenham England, and live on Bob Harris's BBC Radio Show where he characterized terry as "an expressive, intelligent and truly beautiful artist". As well as the aforementioned festivals, terry was recently a showcase artist at the 2003 Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, a finalist in the 2002 Susquehanna Music Festival songwriter competition, and a showcase artist at the 2001 Northeast Regional Folk Alliance Conference.
Concert and recording artist, research engineer, philosopher, inspirational lecturer - Terry Gonda is all of these and more. Her music inspires, thrills and touches the soul of the listener.
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