Halfway Closer to Dead

Katie Goodman built her brand of musical comedy on the realization that getting older means you no longer have to pretend to care about what younger people think. Instead of treating middle age with quiet dignity, she leans into the looming anxiety of the grave with genre-hopping musical satire. She jumps from rap to folk ballads to target hypocrisies on both sides of the political aisle, directing her barbs at right-wing politics and reluctant feminists.

Released in February 2017 via Comedy Dynamics, Halfway Closer to Dead is Goodman’s second full-length comedy record. It was written in collaboration with her husband and longtime creative partner, Soren Kisiel, and recorded at Jereco Studios in Bozeman, Montana.

Tracks like “Sorry, Babe but You’re a Feminist” offer a pointed critique of celebrities who distance themselves from the movement while reaping its benefits. Elsewhere, “Nazis Get All the Pussy” reacts to the rising political tensions of the early Trump era, while the title track centers on the physical realities of turning 47 with lyrics about memory loss and midlife crises. Goodman plays acoustic guitar and piano, delivering these rants with a musical-theater showmanship that turns midlife decay into group sing-alongs.