The music of John Goraj is difficult to pinpoint. A short story might suffice. A 16-year old boy in the cold, beautiful and isolated mid-western state of South Dakota starts writing complex finger-picked guitar parts in his room, singing over them with an unmistakably emotional tenor voice. Finished high school, does volunteer work in a Catholic monastery in Rural Oregon, works at a car wash in Boise, Idaho, moves to Montana and Florida to go to college, drops out, and then returns to his hometown of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to begin work on his debut album, Possible.

What develops over a two year time span, is an intrinsic musical work ranging from ethereal folk, lush lullabies, indie bluegrass pop, to soulful, gut-wrenching ballads filled with guitars, banjo and cello. Fast forward a few years later.

March 2010, Goraj had the honor of opening up for the folk veteran and fellow mid-westerner Mason Jennings. Five of the songs from Possible were featured in a poignant documentary about the recent economic crisis, called Jobs for Rent, by LA filmmaker Michele Paster.

His latest single One More Winter was released July 2010 by Yer Bird Records for the compilation album Folk Music for What Lies Ahead. Goraj now lives in La Crescenta, California, and is working on his new album in his home studio. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.