Ferrill Gibbs & Abe Partridge

Ferrill Gibbs is a writer, podcast producer, songwriter, and co-creator of Alabama Astronaut and Marked for Life. Abe Partridge is a songwriter, visual artist, folk documentarian, and co-creator of Alabama Astronaut and Marked for Life.

Describe Marked for Life in 10 words or less. 
FG: Cody Coots narrates about his rocky life performing The Signs.

Why are you making it?
FG: Since the release of Alabama Astronaut, people have approached us with a question: “Why would a person handle a snake in the name of God?” Cody's memoir illustrates this rationale and faith at a street-level. Books exist as to the “why” concerning this group, but this memoir-podcast illustrates the faith playing out in mundane life. Expanding on that, one compelling reason we took this project was because it’s the first of its kind in the group’s 130 year history! This is the first memoir ever written by a serpent handler about his serpent handling life. 

Will there be a musical element this time?
FG: Absolutely! Cody Coots was, as he describes in the podcast, a “born drummer!” His position at church as drummer “particularly on the fast songs” illustrates his revered status in the church. He also sent us a songbook of 158 gospel songs he has written. (He told us that, in the event he dies, he would want his children to have a better understanding of who he was through his song lyrics. Many of these songs describe actual events that play out in the podcast.)

How is it related to the first show you made, Alabama Astronaut, which is one of my favorite shows, like, ever?
FG: We can’t thank you enough for that, Lauren! Cody was such a pivotal character in the series. It wasn’t so much we felt it crucial to elaborate on this storyline; it's just that Cody is one of the most ridiculed “Signs-followers” of our time. People call him all manner of disparaging names. But, if you look at the totality of who he is, Cody has now written a full-length book; composed over 190 songs; and, he's recorded a Nashville-produced record. So...Cody Coots is a creator!  In this capacity, he can give the world a unique view of life as a serpent handler, not to mention life growing up in a community where mountains are torn to the ground by big business, and drugs and crime unravel fabric at the edges.

Can you talk about how you stumbled upon these stories?
FG: It was all Abe Partridge. Abe went to these churches during the pandemic, when his music career stalled from the lockdowns. Cody was one of the first people willing to be Abe's friend. Cody showed him everything. (Cody later admitted he was sure Abe was there to exploit and make fun of them, but that was not the case.) Ultimately, Cody got comfortable sharing with us a story you might find devastating, personal, and even sometimes damning regarding his life, behavior, failures, and triumphs.

What happens when you get bit in the head by a venomous snake?
FG: Great question. An entire chapter is dedicated to this one event. It's not pretty. It took a long time for Cody to recover from this bite. As he told us when he handed over the manuscript, he’s still not fully recovered. One doctor told him he might suffer the consequences of this bite for the rest of his life.

How will Marked for Life be similar, and how will it be different?
FG: Marked for life is an audiobook at heart, adapted for a podcast. With this, we hope the listener gets deep inside Middlesboro, Kentucky, and also, deep inside the lives of an extremely uncommon people. Mostly, we are curious to see if listeners ultimately view Cody and his friends as we do: human, with human rationale, trying to make sense of life in a post-modern time, embedded as they are in some of the most remote hollers of eastern Kentucky.

Fill in the blank: You will like Marked for Life if you like _______.
FG: Alabama Astronaut!  Many of the characters Abe describes in Alabama Astronaut make appearances. Many of the stories become multi-dimensional to those who know the podcast well. And, fans will probably hear Alabama Astronaut differently once they spend time off Abe's shoulders, and immersed in the actual world of the Signs-followers.

What do you hope people get out of listening to Marked for Life? 
FG: We can only hope others get what Abe and I (This is Ferrill!) have gotten out of it: perspective. If perspective comes at a premium at this world's frenetic pace, it might be easy to sum one group by one act, one mistake, or any one hill they may choose to lie on. 

“These people hold rattlesnakes at church!!” is a statement that might make you feel better about yourself, and even worse about those people. But, if you allow yourself to wade into their stories – like the one Cody weaves for us in Marked for Life – you may understand that he is a person to be pitied, sometimes, or even revered at others! After this, you may turn your gaze to the larger, embattled world, and find it softens your view toward those whose stories remain untold.

Abe and I would love that.

AP: To elaborate on that, it has never been more imperative for us to try to understand people who are different than us. I hope that above all else, folks realize that if they could hear the background of someone like Cody Coots, and still find sympathies toward him, then perhaps they could also attempt to understand others with whom they may vehemently disagree. This is the remedy for a plague that's currently tearing at the social fabric of our society.

How has making these shows changed your life and faith?
FG: It’s absolutely the best work I’ve ever been part of (Ferrill). Every time I sit down to arrange something in these podcasts, it's like I'm fighting "misunderstanding." Even so, as you will hear in his podcast, this is absolutely Cody’s words! We have refused to commandeer his (or anyone else's) story to tell our own. But, that's what makes it beautiful – finding people in this group who are, more often than not, much like us. To me, it has been life-changing.

What’s something you learned about yourself making these shows?
FG: I learned a lot about podcasting itself! The power of the podcast. I have discovered that footage can actually sound terrible, but that a great story cuts through! A great story jumps off the tape – that's the real, precious commodity in podcasting – the story. 

What’s something you have learned about memory?
FG: Well, that Abe has an extremely sharp one! (And mine is O.K.!) But, with everything you hear in Marked for Life – also, in Alabama Astronaut – we have been meticulously journalistic. (Sorry, Abe! – Abe hates being called “journalistic.”)

We have been extremely careful to be correct. If we can’t be correct, we won’t air it. So, working with Cody, who's yet another voice in the fold, we've had to cross-check everything he says with verifiable fact. It's been such a good time getting down to the bottom of his stories, learning more about his life, and more about the group.

If you could make another show…your budget is $1M, and don’t worry about any of the logistics or whether or not people will like it…what would it be?
FG: If I had $1,000,000? I'd throw it at Alabama Astronaut Season 2! I'd do more on-site work, and less cutting tape/post-production work. (Meaning, I’d hire an audio producer to drive absolutely bananas!)

What’s a podcast you love that everyone loves? 
FG: I am old school – I loved Serial, Dr. Death, Up and Vanished – all those great ones in the "true-crime" genre.

What’s a podcast you love that not enough people know about? 
AP: I really like The Working Songwriter, and Cocaine and Rhinestones.

Self-care ritual:
FG: Nightly bike rides

Hot take:
FG: We do better as a group each year than we give ourselves credit for.

Thanks, Ferrill and Abe!