Victor V. Gurbo’s new release, Gurbo & Co. Live 2025, has been a long time coming. Ever since he began playing his music on the streets of New York, Gurbo has dreamed of performing at the historic venues where his idols first made their mark. In January 1961, a 19-year-old Bob Dylan began performing at the now-legendary Cafe Wha?. In November of 2025, Victor brought his electric band to the same stage. It’s undeniable that Gurbo & Co. have tapped into something special here — channeling the energy of the ’60s with an approach that could only exist today. In an anthropological sense, this is a remarkable and deeply considered live document.
Victor V. Gurbo is a folk-rock and roots songwriter, artist, and guitar maker. A homebred Brooklynite and self-described musical anthropologist, he seems to exist outside of time. In speaking and listening to his songs, one could easily place him in the 1960s, while— to quote John Schaefer of NPR’s Soundcheck—“evoking sounds we probably heard in New York City from the late ’20s, early ’30s.” Yet there is something unmistakably contemporary about his presence. Influenced by country and blues pioneers such as Robert Johnson, Howlin’ Wolf, and Hank Williams, as well as songwriting titans like Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, John Prine, and Leonard Cohen, Gurbo carries that lineage forward in a voice distinctly his own.
He has performed at some of New York’s most respected venues — Carnegie Hall, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, NPR’s Greene Space, the Highline Ballroom, and City Winery, among others. His music has been featured in numerous media outlets, including Top 5 Press Radio, The Big Takeover magazine, and NPR.
