The title of Planting by the Signs comes from southern Appalachian folkways, a custom of orienting life cycles by the moon that S.G. Goodman grew up with in Western Kentucky and rediscovered in the Foxfire books. The record is a rumination on that ritual reconnection to nature, and what to do when ritual itself seems futile. Marked by the deaths of her mentor Mike Harmon and her beloved pet dog, as well as the reconciliation with her former collaborator Matthew Rowan, Goodman navigates grief and renewal in her lyrics—and, like in nature, these seeds grow in wild and sometimes surprising shapes.
There’s a stroke of righteous fury on lead single “Snapping Turtle,” but a wistful serenity permeates the Bonnie “Prince” Billy duet “Nature’s Child,” written by Asheville songwriter Tyler Ladd.
Woven through it all is a sense of community: as a balm, as a shelter, and as a fortifying force. When Goodman cries “I have seen the light” on “Michael Told Me,” she’s not preaching—she’s witnessing the redemptive power of our connection to each other.
The Fat Angel Sings 