Haley & Gillian Goodman

Haley and Gillian Goodman have been singing folk music together for their entire lives. The two sisters, originally from New York, were inspired early on by the 70s folk revival of their parent’s generation and have recently been inspired by western and indie folk artists. Haley now lives in Sitka and the two sisters were reunited at Sea Pony Farm with the help of the Sitka Conservation Society, to explore folk classics and write originals inspired by their lives and the Tongass. The duo played a concert in Pelican as well, sharing their beautiful vocals and original lyrics with the community. Haley played Eric Bealer’s acoustic guitar, and this was the third concert in Pelican it has been played for!

Along with SCS’s Mitchell Feske and contractor Spencer Severson, the Goodman sisters volunteered on property renovation projects. They took on digging a trench needed for the conduit to be placed for the upgraded solar system wiring, helped rough in window openings in the barn dormer, and installed paneling in the upper barn.

When reflecting on their experience, the sister duo wrote: 

"Coming to Sea Pony Farm was like coming into another world in some ways, one that flipped New York City through a trick mirror. Buildings fell away to mountains, whales moved unseen instead of subways running beneath you. It was such a rich place to write, both songs and poems. Most great folk music has at least one foot in the natural world, so to be able to create art in the Tongass with the closest person to me was incredible. We sang for a crowd of locals in Pelican, tourists walking on the boardwalk, our fellow volunteers as they stood on the roof of the barn and to each other. The environment informed the work over and over again, from rimbaud songs set in a local bar to a take on the saying (which I loved) "the odds are good, but the goods are odd." One particularly calm evening, we found ourselves down at the beach at dusk, on the old log that juts out over the water at high tide. We began singing with each other, admiring the movement of the water and stillness of the mountains, when two otter heads popped up to listen. Two more otters soon joined them and we continued singing, amazed at their presence and our connection to them. As we neared the end of the song, one otter swam right under the log we were sitting on, spun around, and floated away. We carried the magic of that moment for the rest of our time at Sea Pony Farm, and back to Sitka and New York City as well."

Additionally, Gillian did several water color studies and wrote some poetry during her time volunteering at Sea Pony Farm, here are some below: