© 2025 Connecticut Public

FCC Public Inspection Files:
WEDH · WEDN · WEDW · WEDY
WEDW-FM · WNPR · WPKT · WRLI-FM
Public Files Contact · ATSC 3.0 FAQ
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

S.G. Goodman: Tiny Desk Concert

S.G. Goodman gazes off into the distance as she begins the first song in this Tiny Desk session, rocking her body from side to side, connecting with a force inside and also just out of reach: maybe it's something in her past or the image of a person she holds dear, or maybe it's simply fierce, ragged hope. "I see all my love coming back to me — I can see it!" she wails in her piercing, haunted soprano. Her band revs its engine beneath her as she testifies about a rock and roll epiphany. As drummer Stephen Montgomery and bassist Mark Sloan push the rhythm harder and guitarist Michael Ruth lays down some pure-energy riffs, she squeezes her eyes shut and bears down on her guitar. Music, Goodman's songs show us, is a route to both survival and transcendence.

A proud and ever-questioning Southerner who invokes Tyler Childers, Dolly Parton and her own Kentucky accent in her between-song banter, Goodman released her debut album Old Time Feeling early on in the pandemic and her astounding Teeth Marks in June of this year. Goodman's songs cultivate a direct gaze as they confront grief and stump for understanding. The two others offered here, "If You Were Someone I Loved" and "Space and Time," show the breadth of expression she and her band achieve with their feet firmly planted on the ground of grassroots rock, the kind that echoes from bar stages and garages in Hickman, Kentucky, and countless small American towns like it. Goodman's stories and her sound are very particular, but she's a hero with big arms, an ordinary woman learning how to keep on keeping on. You can see it, that engagement and resilience, in every moment of this performance.

SET LIST

  • "All My Love Is Coming Back to Me"
  • "If You Were Someone I Loved"
  • "Space and Time"
  • MUSICIANS

  • S.G. Goodman: vocals, electric guitar
  • Michael Ruth: electric guitar
  • Mark Sloan: bass, vocals 
  • Stephen Montgomery: drums
  • TINY DESK TEAM

  • Producer: Bob Boilen
  • Director/Editor: Maia Stern
  • Audio Engineer: Neil Tevault
  • Audio Mix: Josh Rogosin
  • Series Producer: Bobby Carter
  • Videographers: Maia Stern, Joshua Bryant, Kara Frame
  • Audio Assistant: Andie Huether
  • Production Assistant: Jill Britton
  • Tiny Desk Team: Suraya Mohamed, Marissa Lorusso, Hazel Cills, Ashley Pointer
  • VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins
  • Senior VP, Programming: Anya Grundmann
  • Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

    Ann Powers is NPR Music's critic and correspondent. She writes for NPR's music news blog, The Record, and she can be heard on NPR's newsmagazines and music programs.

    The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

    If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

    Now all of that is at risk.

    Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

    Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

    Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.

    SOMOS CONNECTICUT is an initiative from Connecticut Public, the state’s local NPR and PBS station, to elevate Latino stories and expand programming that uplifts and informs our Latino communities. Visit CTPublic.org/latino for more stories and resources. For updates, sign up for the SOMOS CONNECTICUT newsletter at ctpublic.org/newsletters.

    SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

    The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

    If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

    Now all of that is at risk.

    Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

    Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

    Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.

    Related Content