Alabama Astronaut

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 Appalachia.

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

The service opens with Sister Dootsie Rose.

Next up: a five-member band – led by co-pastors Andrew and Taylor Hamblin. 

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

Abe's effort to record undocumented music has become something greater: A public act of worship, captured pristinely by a group of professionals, giving the secular audience a glimpse of faith as devout as it comes.

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 Alabama Astronaut?

Alabama Astronaut is a podcast featuring Alabama songwriter & artist Abe Partridge. Abe discovers a set of undocumented songs in the hills of the Appalachians, and believes they are undocumented because of the subject matter: lyrics that speak of the consumption of poison, and the handling of venomous snakes. These are the songs of the serpent handlers. To capture their music, Abe must first capture the hearts and the minds of the people who wrote it...and in the process, they capture his.