S.G. Goodman
Old Time Feeling
Verve Forecast
Listen Below
One of music's many tensions is the desire to look back to different eras of magical music wistfully, while also acknowledging the injustices of the period. It's hard to wish you could have seen Muddy Waters in his prime without also recognizing that during that same time, you could find him painting Chess Records' ceiling. S.G. Goodman does a masterful job of exploring classic sounds through the lens of newer, more progressive ideas on Old Time Feeling, her debut album of beautiful country, rock & roll, and folk.
Goodman is from rural Kentucky, the child of sweet corn farmers. Coming out to her family, and town, and the subsequent reactions to it, both her own, but also her neighbors, informs her work. She explores the mixed emotions of her experiences on "Space and Time," a lovely 50s-inspired ballad dedicated to "the ones who have loved me / the ones who have tried / their grips on my heart / their grips on my mind." It's very easy to try and write-off people who have turned their back on you, or to say their thoughts don't matter, but Goodman shows the complexity of contemplating walking away from the community you've known since you were a child. Lyrically, Goodman is sharing space and time with these people and ideas, while musically she's reaching back over half a century, showing how these are not new issues.
Goodman's voice is both pretty and versatile. She sounds perfect on the old-fashioned songs, like "Space and Time," but she's just as impressive on the more contemporary-sounding tracks. For example, the title track rocks to a go-go beat and a Velvet Underground guitar strum. She doesn't change her airy vocal style, but rather finds a cadence that allows her to maintain her own more relaxed rhythm within the driving music. Lyrically, she explores the politics of the modern south, not through hatred or contempt, but through confusion: "When I hear people saying how they want to change / Then the most of them do something strange / They move where everybody feels the same."
Goodman works through a variety of song styles while still keeping the album cohesive. "Supertramp" is almost pure country, with Goodman even unleashing a bit more of a Southern accent than she does on the rest of the album. "The Way I Talk" rocks hard, a simple chugging riff. "If It Ain’t Me Babe" is original folk rock, and not a Dylan cover. Goodman and producer Jim James of My Morning Jacket did a masterful job of creating songs that sound similar to each other, but are also distinctive.
I recently re-watched Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris, about a writer, played exceptionally white by Owen Wilson, who discovers he can go back in time to the 1920s, his favorite era. The film's punchline is that many people are always looking back to better times. But of course, a different director would have had a character looking ahead to when things would be better, since for so many, the past was a worse time to be alive. Goodman understands the appeal of different times, but also engages in a critique of the old ways. It's nuanced ideas and exceptional songs, the perfect way to time travel.
Notable Tracks: “Old Time Feeling” | “Space and Time” | “Supertramp” | “The Way I Talk”
Note: As an Amazon affiliate partner, Albumism may earn commissions from purchases of vinyl records, CDs and digital music featured on our site.
LISTEN: