Unless you’re a farmer, chances are, you don’t give too much thought to the ground beneath your feet. Yet the earth is the source of everything we wear, everything we eat, and, ultimately, everything we are. Should we poison the soil, we poison ourselves. Instinctively we realize this — but that knowledge does not prevent us from using pesticides and chemicals that are corrosive to the health of the planet and everything on it. In the gentle but firm and fiercely intelligent voice that his many fans know well, heartland rock songwriter Alex Woodard asks us to think about what we’re doing. And unlike other musicians who get called literary, he’s not just singing his message. He’s also getting it down on paper.
That’s because Alex Woodard writes as well as he strums. Already well established as an accomplished recording artist and inventive tunesmith, he’s rapidly made a name for himself as an inventive literary storyteller, too. He’s published a string of books that blur the distinctions between memoir, fable, mystery, inspirational prose, historical drama and sociopolitical essay. Ordinary Soil, his latest, follows an Oklahoma farmer as he battles despair and struggles to overcome the desperate predicaments common to all modern agricultural workers. In so doing, he embarks upon a journey that takes him deep into the prairie past to discover the roots of the ecological disaster that currently confronts us. In Woody Harrelson’s gleaming review he writes “Ordinary Soil brings to life the desperate realities of the American heartland but also offers a glimpse into a better future…a call to action for us all.” It’s bracing, sharp, and wholly engrossing, and it’s sure to extend Woodard’s reputation as a fearless novelist.
And because he’s got the music in him, Woodard isn’t the kind of artist who’ll write a book and leave it at that. He’s always accompanied his novels and memoirs with recordings that extend and amplify their themes, and he’s promising an “Ordinary Soil” song cycle later this year. For now, we’ve got the title track — a heartfelt, pained, brooding folk song written from the perspective of the weary protagonist. It is, like all of Woodard’s songs, frank and forthright, economical, and deeply motivated. The accompanying clip lays the dangerous and backbreaking labor associated with agriculture bare for the viewer. We see the cracked soil, the tubs of pesticide, the heavy machinery, and the glowering, uncaring prairie sky. We also see Alex Woodard himself, guitar in hand and concern heavy on his face, spinning out his tale. He’s enhancing his narrative, using every resource at his disposal to spread his message, raise the alarm, save the American farmer, and maybe save you, too.
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