Joe Goodkin’s musical career took an unusual turn when he wrote a thirty-minute adaptation of Homer’s “The Odyssey” for voice and guitar. For years now he has been a traveling bard performing this piece all over the country. It’s the same ethos that has worked its way into his trinity of EPs, starting with Record of Life and now continuing with Record of Loss. If you’re unfamiliar with Record of Life, the 6-song EP is an extremely personal record—sorrowful, profound, and a reminder of the human condition. It’s a visual record in that his lyrics provoke powerful imagery and have you examining your own life in the process and taking comfort in the fact that you aren’t alone. Record of Loss is conceived of as the first side of an eventual piece of vinyl... one side is called Record of Loss, the second side (to be released in summer 2017) will be called Record of Love --as in, Love and Loss are the two sides of Life—to complete a trilogy with Record of Life. With Record of Loss, Goodkin delves into these topics and emotions even further. He notes, “In the classic 3 episodes arc you introduce the characters in part one, put them in the worst possible position in part two, and then find resolution in part three.” Goodkin is unafraid to sing about anything: death, love, euthanasia, abortion, suicide, illness, family…and does so in a very specific language not used by most musicians. This trinity has so far been a solo project for Goodkin using only his guitar (a 1963 Gibson ES-125t) tuned to a non-standard tuning (DADGAD for the techies). The guitar was recorded in almost every conceivable way and configuration to layer as many as 8 guitars per song, with each guitar track sometimes consisting of 4 different microphone signals. The vocals were recorded using a close mic and an array of room mics to capture ambiance and have just one vocal for each song in comparison to the vocal layering of Record of Life. On both Record of Life and now, Record of Loss, Goodkin takes his personal experiences and makes them accessible to his audience. As online music magazine Pop Matters points out, “Incredibly straightforward is the prescription by which Goodkin stands…and the beauty of its simplicity is absolutely able to be felt.”