Stunning. Soulful. Spellbinding. They’re the words that spring to mind when you hear S.G. Goodman. Mostly that’s due to the southern singer-songwriter’s fantastic voice, which somehow manages to to be both powerful and vulnerable and warm and shivery all at once. Doubtless it will earn her endless reams of much-deserved praise. But it’s not the only element of her debut album Old Time Feeling that grabs your attention. You also won’t be able to ignore her plainspoken yet movingly poetic lyrics about the hardscrabble lives of sharecroppers, coal miners and the working poor who live off dreams and “gas station delicacies” — all of which are expertly and memorably bolstered and broadened by producer and My Morning Jacket leader Jim James’ swirling, soaring, spacious post-roots excursions. Perfectly balancing the tradition of her album title with contemporary innovation and invention, these songs position Goodman squarely at the crossroads of past and present. And put her squarely on the path to a remarkable future.
THE PRESS RELEASE: “First, there is S.G. Goodman’s voice: raw and completely unique. Equal parts grit and balm, it is all emotion. S.G. can fly high with plaintive tones or prowl the low valleys of longing, sometimes within the course of one line. And she possesses the power to stop you in your tracks like a bite from the cottonmouth snakes swimming in the slough water of her Western Kentucky homeland. Goodman’s otherworldly vocals take center stage on her debut Old Time Feeling, where they soar above a timeless sonic blend of gritty rock ’n’ roll guitars, sultry bottomland grooves and plaintive folk balladry. Her voice was the catalyst for her collaboration with co-producer Jim James, the Grammy-nominated solo artist and lead singer of My Morning Jacket. “When I first heard her, I was spellbound. But perhaps more important is what she’s saying on issues that affect working-class folks in rural areas. I think she could play an important role in the healing we need to see happen right now,” he says. “She’s living proof that we can be whoever we want to be, no matter where we come from.” S.G. Goodman was raised in Western Kentucky on the Mississippi River Delta, in a strict church going family of row crop farmers. She went from singing in church three times a week to becoming a prominent member of the Murray, KY indie scene and an impassioned voice in the political and social movements she supported.”
