Alabama Astronaut: The Podcast

WHO: Ex-preacher, songwriter, artist Abe Partridge; City Cast/Houston Chronicle podcast producer Ferrill Gibbs

WHAT: The Alabama Astronaut podcast

WHEN: Sept 7, 2022

WHERE: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Audible, YouTube, and Alabamaastronaut.com

Acclaimed Alabama songwriter Abe Partridge and podcast producer Ferrill Gibbs release an ambitious new podcast named Alabama Astronaut – the search for undocumented songs of the Appalachians.

Abe’s quest to captured them brought him face-to-face with the deadly practices of an oft-ridiculed subculture amidst a concerning barrage of American crises that seemed to suggest a nation in decline. Even so, as he pursued this music, genuine relationships across cultures began to spark.

Episode “Foreword” begins with a reluctant Abe getting his hands tied by a serpent-handling preacher in Gray, Kentucky. (His hands were literally tied up…the compelling audio was captured on a Sony handheld digital recorder, like so many other unforgettable moments in the series.)

As the preacher dragged Abe across the serpent-handling church, to make an example of the folk artist, Abe could only relent. (Perhaps he’d had it coming, given his own past as a fiery preacher in Middlesboro, Kentucky.) But seven episodes later, in the series finale, it's a sold-out show in Nashville featuring that same wrist-tying, serpent-handling preacher – who's accompanying Abe on banjo.

Alabama Astronaut is a bizarre and wonderful story, with mistrust giving way to genuine friendships across four states: Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, and West Virginia. In the process, Abe captured generations-old songs…music that till this day has never been properly documented. (Perhaps it’s because the songs mention the free-handling of serpents and the drinking of poisonous substances.)

Abe and Ferrill recorded multiple albums in small buildings across the chilly hillsides of Kentucky, then post-produced them in Nashville, Tennessee. This podcast captures all of it.

Songs of Them Who Believe the signs...

Meet Your Host

Ferrill Gibbs is a musician and a podcaster who cut his teeth producing and hosting a weekday show for the Houston Chronicle.

He also worked alongside veteran writer, Lisa Gray, audio producing for City Cast Houston. Nowadays, he is the Director of Podcasting for the CBS affiliate KBTX in College Station, Tx.

Ferrill lives in College Station with his wife "Fish," who attends vet school. Ferrill's songwriting has been featured on CMJ, American Songwriter Magazine, and Americana UK.

Besides podcasting, He's also a published author: his young adult novel The Secret Island of Edgar Dewitt (inspired by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill) is part of the Chicago Review Press and is available on Amazon and all other platforms.

He makes music with his band All The Kimonos and their most recent album - The Listening Room - can be found here.

More info. at - https://www.ferrillgibbs.com

*Photo Credit: Lynn Oldshue

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Meet The Songcatcher

Abe Partridge aka The Alabama Astronaut, is a heralded musician, singer/songwriter, visual artist, and podcaster based in Mobile, Alabama. His 2018 debut, Cotton Fields and Blood For Days earned him rave reviews, with Tony Paris saying in The Bitter Southerner: "He plays guitar the same way he writes lyrics, bashing the strings with abandon until they are just about to come loose, then beautifully picking the notes until every last word falls into place. More to the point, Partridge writes to make you sit up and think. He wants to jar your reality. Sometimes, his lyrics are sly and subtle. Sometimes they come at you with a roar and thunder, as if the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse were approaching, and the heavens were opening up to herald a warning."

Since the release of his debut, Partridge has toured relentlessly, including several tours of the Netherlands and the U.K. developing a reputation for moving, passionate, and sometimes comedic, performances at prestigious songwriter festivals such as 30A Songwriters Festival, Frank Brown Songwriters Festival, and Americanafest. He is a regular at the Bluebird Café in Nashville and Eddie’s Attic in Decatur. He has performed on the syndicated radio programs, Mountain Stage and Woodsongs Old Time Radio Hour. He has shared the stage with Morgan Wade, Paul Thorn, Steve Poltz, Dan Bern, Jerry Joseph, Glen Phillips (Toad The Wet Sprocket), Tommy Stinson, Shawn Mullins, John Fullbright, and more.

Most recently, Partridge and co-producer Ferrill Gibbs released the Alabama Astronaut podcast, where they explore songs previously undocumented at churches in Appalachia. The podcast finds Partridge chatting with Holiness preachers and looking into the practice of snake handling. It was in the Top Ten documentary podcasts on Apple Podcasts within days of its release and now has over 50k downloads and a 4.9-star rating.

When Partridge is not writing or touring, he is also a highly acclaimed visual artist. His paintings, primarily acrylic on tarred board and watercolors, now hang in art galleries around the southeast and in the private collections of Tyler Childers, Mike Wolfe (American Pickers), Rick Hirsch (Wet Willie), and Tommy Prine. His artwork was featured in Stephen King’s 2019 sequel to The Shining - Dr. Sleep. He painted the cover art for Charlie Parr’s, Last Of The Better Days Ahead (Smithsonian Folkways). He also created art for Tyler Childers’ 2022 release, Can I Take My Hounds To Heaven?

American Songwriter Magazine said, “Abe Partridge has established himself as one of the most respected songwriters and visual folk artists in the southeast.”

In November of 2022, Partridge released the EP Alabama Skies on Baldwin Co. Public Records label which includes "Abe Partridge’s 403d Freakout". Partridge told Songfacts the story behind the song: " 'Abe Partridge's 403d Freakout' was a song I wrote in about 20 minutes. It took me two weeks to make it rhyme, and then it took me about six months to learn it. I just sat and wrote a couple of pages of thoughts as they came to me. It was my attempt at describing my thoughts chronologically as they sometimes occur in my head before I filter them. It is those thoughts that I often have if I allow myself to mentally wander."

Partridge's exhibit With Signs Following is at the Alabama Contemporary Art Center in Mobile, AL from January 13 - May 20 of 2023. His full-length studio album, Love In The Dark, on BCPR label, was released on May 12, 2023.

More info. at -https://www.abepartridge.com

*Photo Credit: Cathy Partridge

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