How living ‘by the signs’ led S.G. Goodman to her latest album

When Kentucky singer-songwriter S.G. Goodman was growing up, there were things her family would do that might seem surprising, if you didn’t know the signs.

“Your grandmother says if you pull a tooth right now, signs are in the head and you’re gonna bleed a lot,” Goodman says.

Planting by the signs — sowing and harvesting based on the phases of the moon or the zodiac — is an Appalachian tradition that goes back hundreds of years. It’s also the name of Goodman’s latest album, recorded in Muscle Shoals.

In this session, Goodman looks back on making the new album, including writing “Michael Told Me,” a song about her and her close friend and mentor Michael Harmon, who was killed in accident.

“There was only maybe one other way he would have chosen to go, which was getting eaten by a shark — he was a surfer,” she says.

Plus, Goodman performs songs from Planting by the Signs live for World Cafe.

This episode of World Cafe was produced by Will Loftus. The web story was created by Miguel Perez. Our engineer is Chris Williams. Our programming and booking coordinator is Chelsea Johnson and our senior producer is Kimberly Junod.