S.G. Goodman talks influences on new album ‘Planting by the Signs’

S.G. Goodman‘s third album, Planting by the Signs, is out today (6/20) via Slough Water/Thirty Tigers. Here’s what we wrote about it in our Notable Releases review:

As the daughter of a Kentucky farmer, Appalachia is in S.G. Goodman’s bones, and her solo career over the last five years has delved ever deeper into those roots, most recently on 2022’s fantastic Teeth Marks. She’s still telling the unheard stories of the land and the people who inhabit it on Planting by the Signs, and grappling with the deaths of a beloved mentor and dog. It’s a spare and sometimes dark listen, but she meets pathos with compassion on songs like “Snapping Turtle,” making an account of feral children tormenting a turtle into something moving. Goodman’s distinctive twang is alternately ruminative and soaring, especially on the delicate “Solitaire” and in harmony with collaborator Matthew Rowan on the title track. “Nature’s Child,” a duet with Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, is another standout — their voices together are haunting as they put a mournful spin on that iconic cowboy cry, “yippie yi yo kayah.” Goodman’s country is no bucolic paradise, but it is a place made compelling by her care and vivid storytelling, which is as sharp as ever on this album.

To celebrate the album’s release, Goodman told us about some of the books that influenced making it, including the Foxfire series, Harriette Arnow’s The Dollmaker, James Baldwin’s Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone, and Francis Weller’s The Wild Edge of Sorrow: Rituals of Renewal and the Sacred Work of Grief. Watch her talk about those, stream Planting by the Signs, and watch the new video for “I’m In Love” below.

Goodman is on tour through the fall, including a headlining NYC show at Bowery Ballroom on October 29 with Fust. Before that, she’ll support Patty Griffin at Sony Hall on July 29. See all dates below.

Planting by the Signs by S.G. Goodman

S.G. GOODMAN: 2025 TOUR DATES
Jun 27 Fri The Burl Lexington, KY, United States *
Jun 28 Sat The Burl Lexington, KY, United States
Jul 2 Wed Grand Ole Opry House Nashville, TN, United States
Jul 5 Sat Bayfront Festival Park Duluth, MN, United States #
Jul 25 Fri Newport Folk 2025 Newport, RI, United States
Jul 29 Tue Sony Hall New York, NY, United States &
Aug 7 Thu Stage AE Pittsburgh, PA, United States +
Aug 8 Fri KEMBA Live! Columbus, OH, United States +
Aug 9 Sat Meadow Brook Amphitheatre Rochester Hills, MI, United States +
Aug 23 Sat Rootsy Summer Fest 2025 Falkenberg, Sweden
Aug 24 Sun Stockholm Roots 2025 Stockholm, Sweden
Aug 26 Tue Belleville, Oslo Oslo, Norway
Aug 28 Thu Tønder Festival 2025 Tønder, Denmark
Aug 31 Sun Zuiderparktheater Den Haag, Netherlands
Sep 2 Tue Oslo Hackney London, United Kingdom
Sep 4 Thu Gullivers Manchester, United Kingdom
Sep 5 Fri The Louisiana Bristol, United Kingdom
Sep 18 Thu The Kessler Theater Dallas, TX, United States %
Sep 19 Fri The Heights Theater Houston, TX, United States %
Sep 20 Sat Antone’s Austin, TX, United States %
Sep 23 Tue Club Congress Tucson, AZ, United States %
Sep 24 Wed Pappy & Harriet’s Pioneertown, CA, United States @
Sep 26 Fri Troubadour West Hollywood, CA, United States @
Sep 27 Sat The Chapel San Francisco, CA, United States %
Sep 30 Tue Aladdin Theater Portland, OR, United States %
Oct 1 Wed The Crocodile Seattle, WA, United States %
Oct 3 Fri The State Room Salt Lake City, UT, United States %
Oct 4 Sat Bluebird Theater Denver, CO, United States %
Oct 22 Wed Terminal West Atlanta, GA, United States ^
Oct 24 Fri The Basement East Nashville, TN, United States ^
Oct 25 Sat Eulogy Asheville, NC, United States ^
Oct 26 Sun Haw River Ballroom Graham, NC, United States ^
Oct 27 Mon The Atlantis Washington, DC, United States ^
Oct 29 Wed Bowery Ballroom New York, NY, United States ^
Oct 30 Thu World Cafe Live Philadelphia, PA, United States ^
Nov 1 Sat The Sinclair Cambridge, MA, United States ^
Nov 2 Sun The Iron Horse Northampton, MA, United States ^
Nov 4 Tue The Great Hall Toronto, ON, Canada ^
Nov 5 Wed The Ark Ann Arbor, MI, United States ^
Nov 7 Fri Lincoln Hall Chicago, IL, United States ^
Nov 8 Sat Fine Line Minneapolis, MN, United States ^
Nov 10 Mon Off Broadway St. Louis, MO, United States ^

* with Secular Pets
# with Trampled by Turtles
& with Patty Griffin
+ with Lord Huron
% with John Calvin Abney
@ with Becca Mancari
^ with Fust