Marked for Life

Folk artist Abe Partridge, spurred by the Covid lockdowns, pursued Signs Following songs for six long years. 

These songs (which mention the handling of serpents and consumption of deadly poisons) have been performed for decades by the "serpent handlers" of the Appalachians.

At a music festival in Kentucky, Abe Partridge – along with podcasting buddy Ferrill Gibbs – attempt to document these songs live, using a professional recording engineer. (Ryan Engelberger, Chase Park Transduction. Athens, GA.)

The service opens with Sister Dootsie Rose. Then, a five-member band – led by co-pastors Andrew and Taylor Hamblin – takes the stage. 

The serpent-handling group of veteran musicians perform decades-old songs before an audience of more than 200 festival goers.

Abe's effort to record undocumented music becomes something greater. A public act of worship, captured pristinely by a group of professionals, gives the secular audience a glimpse of a faith as devout as they come.

Visit A.A.R.T. (the Alabama Astronaut Radio Transmission) for a 10-episode podcast following Abe into the world of undocumented folk art...

What is Marked for Life?

Cody Coots is a fourth-generation serpent handler. By age 6, he handles mock serpents with his sister, Trina, in the church, using leather belts for props. Cody secretly yearns for a normal childhood.

He likes to ride his bike, play drums, and watch WWE wrestling with his father, Jamie. (Jamie is the world's most famous serpent-handling preacher.) A terrible act of violence befalls 8-year-old Cody, shocking the serpent handling community. A preacher pleads guilty to charges of deviant sexual abuse, but it's too late: Cody's innocence is shattered. Anger boils inside him, so he turns his wrath upon his parents, his church, and even his God.

As he cruises the backstreets of Middlesboro, Ky, looking for nothing but trouble, Cody's sins begin piling up. But the consequences do, too.

Is Cody beyond salvation? Or, is he as the community describes him: "Marked for life?"