Singing in the Shadow of Homer piece for Antigone Journal: “In 2018, when I committed myself to composing a retelling of the Iliad in original song, I found comfort in these words. They freed me from the text’s narrative and gave me permission to consider other of its aspects worthy of expression and translation. They also invited me to examine more closely this holy atmosphere of the Iliad that I worship.”
University of Wisconsin - Madison L&S Alumnus Profile: “The man on stage closes his eyes and begins to strum his silver guitar, swaying slightly with the melody, as he gently sings about pain, grief, and loss…”
NewCity Album Review: “‘The Blues of Achilles’ is a set of seventeen songs, each sung from the point of view of one of the poem’s characters. The lyrics are specific to the war’s time and place, but resonate on a more universal level; Goodkin performs these tunes solidly in the American folk tradition, so if you don’t know the context, you might mistake them for songs of grief and loss from the Civil War, or Vietnam. I’m guessing, before too long, they’ll speak to this Ukrainian moment as well.”
In the Moment SDPB Radio Interview: “The Iliad is an epic poem that tells of the Trojan War. It's bloody and violent and one of the most well-known literary records of humans in brutal and rapturously deluded combat. Now a new musical interpretation of stories from the Iliad comes to Vermillion. Joe Goodkin presents "The Blues of Achilles" at USD.”
The Daily Iowan: “What I came to understand is that war is a machine that turns love into grief — and I’m using love very broadly to include all sorts of love. That’s the darkest part about war to me; it takes the best human impulses and turns it into grief. The first step towards [reconciling] it is for human beings to not try to see war as something separate from our humanity.”
