S.G. Goodman, the brilliant singer-songwriter from Kentucky whose 2022 album "Teeth Marks" landed on more than a few year-end best-of lists, has never played Arkansas.
"The last time I had anything to do with Arkansas was when I drank some homemade moonshine at Red's Lounge in Clarksdale, Miss., with an Arkansas boy," she said earlier this month from Murray, Ky., where she lives with her 13-year-old dog, Howard, and a deaf cat named Andouille.
Goodman finally makes her Natural State debut with a sold-out set today at White Water Tavern in Little Rock. Backing her up will be band mates Mark Sloan (bass), Stephen Montgomery (drums) and Mikey Ruth (guitar). Fayetteville's Justin Peter Kinkel-Schuster will open.
Perhaps it shouldn't be surprising that Goodman hasn't yet made it to these parts. Her debut album, "Old Time Feeling," which was produced by Jim James of My Morning Jacket, came out in 2020 in the middle of the pandemic. She was eventually able to tour in support of the record — playing with Madison Cunningham in Canada and a stretch opening for Shakey Graves — but not as much as she would have liked.
Things have been different with "Teeth Marks," which dropped in June on Verve Forecast. She spent much of the latter part of the year on the road then took January off before heading out on her current tour.
"When I'm home, I help an older gentleman out in my county with his property. So today I worked on the farm and I'm writing a packing list before leaving on tour ... music is starting up again for me."
"Teeth Marks," co-produced by Goodman and Drew Vandenberg at Chase Park Transduction Studios in Athens, Ga., is a powerful batch of Southern folk-rock with the faintest echoes of the Velvet Underground and the hypnotic drone of north Mississippi blues, all tied together by Goodman's trembling, timeless tenor and evocative lyrics about crumbling small towns, identity, addiction and unrequited love.
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At the heart of the album are "If You Were Someone I Loved" and "You Were Someone I Loved," mournful evocations centered around the wrath of the deadly opioid crisis. The latter, done a cappella, is especially emotional and raw.
While tracks like "Heart Swell," "Patron Saint of the Dollar Store" and the title cut all have a dreamy, atmospheric intensity, Goodman and her band also lock into more upbeat arrangements like the fierce, swampy banger "All My Love Is Coming Back to Me" and the beguiling "The Heart of It." For the sneering, pro-labor "Work Until I Die," she reinterprets a line from the jejune 1989 Alabama hit "Song of the South" into something else entirely:
"It's the song, song of the South/take a little piece of pie or they'll bust your mouth."
Adding a few uptempo numbers to the repertoire is something she learned after the release of her first album.
"Even though I stand by all my lovely little slow songs on 'Old Time Feeling,' when you make a record you're expected to play it live, and a lot of people like to hear something other than a slow, sad song," Goodman said. "And you might find pretty quick that you might want to play something other than slow songs. So I made sure that 'Teeth Marks' could translate to a live setting."
The record earned high praise when it was released, and was named one of 2022's best by NPR, PopMatters, Uncut and others. Goodman was profiled in The New York Times, Kentucky novelist Silas House wrote about her for Bitter Southerner and she was interviewed by Marc Maron on his podcast.
"I couldn't be happier with how people have received it," she said. "I feel very fortunate."
Goodman grew up in Hickman, Ky., which is on the Mississippi River, about an hour south of Cairo, Ill.
"Mark Twain said Hickman was a 'pretty little town perched on a handsome hill.' I know I'm partial, but I think he was right about that. I know that it looks much different from when he passed by on the Mississippi. It has wonderful people, a beautiful landscape, but it is a small Southern town that had its prime in another era ... but it's still a really charming place."
Her father was a farmer, and she got into music through her family and the church.
"We always had the radio going in the truck, and I grew up in the Southern Baptist Church and we went to three services a week. People always ask about my first concert and I can't remember that, but I do remember going to three [church services] a week."
Hopefully she will remember her first Arkansas show.
"I'm excited about it," she said. "I can't wait to meet some Arkansas folks."
S.G. Goodman
- Opening act: Justin Peter Kinkel-Schuster
- 8 p.m. today, White Water Tavern, 2500 W. Seventh St., Little Rock
- Admission: $15 (sold out)
- Information: (501) 375-8400 | whitewatertavern.com