S.G. Goodman

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 Verve Forecast debut Old Time Feeling, where it soars 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.