Marked for Life

About Marked for Life

Cody Coots is a fourth-generation serpent handler. By age 6, he handles mock serpents with his sister, Trina, in the church, using leather belts for props. Cody secretly yearns for a normal childhood. He likes to ride his bike, play drums, and watch WWE wrestling with his father, Jamie. (Jamie is the world's most famous serpent-handling preacher.) A terrible act of violence befalls 8-year-old Cody, shocking the serpent handling community. A preacher pleads guilty to charges of deviant sexual abuse, but it's too late: Cody's innocence is shattered. Anger boils inside him, so he turns his wrath upon his parents, his church, and even his God. As he cruises the backstreets of Middlesboro, Ky, looking for nothing but trouble, Cody's sins begin piling up. But the consequences do, too. Is Cody beyond salvation? Or, is he as the community describes him: "Marked for life?"

Publisher

Alabama Astronaut

Category

music · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

21 Dec 2023

Latest episode

9 Aug 2026

Latest episodes

1 of 36 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   9 Aug 2026TRANSCRIPT

   A.A.R.T. (The Alabama Astronaut Radio Transmission)

   Folk artist Abe Partridge and Ferrill Gibbs interview serpent handlers, capturing their ancient songs and devout faith in a powerful live recording.

2. 

   8 Sept 2024

   33. "The Real Afterword"

   Dalton Mills (https://daltonmills.bandcamp.com/), narrator of Marked for Life, also shares the same hometown of Middlesboro, KY, with Cody and the Coots family. In this episode, he offers a "crater's-eye" view of the unique town, sharing his perspective on the serpent handlers and how actually they are perceived by the people of east Kentucky. Want to hear more about this subject? We have a podcast called Alabama Astronaut at alabamaastronaut.com detailing the recording session that Cody described in Episode 30 of Marked for Life, "The Ballad of Ol' Lemonhead." Thanks for listening!

3. 

   25 Aug 2024

   32. "Afterword, Mister Weatherman!"

   Abe drops a disclaimer about the stated purpose, and totality of work, of Marked for Life, while Cody offers a response. Then, Cody returns after a two year span to compose one final chapter of this memoir, Marked for Life. If you enjoyed this podcast, certainly visit our flagship podcast, Alabama Astronaut (https://alabamaastronaut.com/episode-1-foreword), about the recording of Cody's record by Abe Partridge and Ferrill Gibbs.

Inside a recent episode

A.A.R.T. (The Alabama Astronaut Radio Transmission)

Published 9 Aug 2026 · Transcript excerpt

[…] We want to share it with you all. I'm just here to have church with you. See firsthand and truly appreciate in a first-person setting what goes on behind walls that they are typically shielded from. Those people had an experience that they would have never had without being there that day. I know they had church up there. That was what they were welcome to do. That's what I wanted them to do. I wanted the people that were there to feel the authentic power in that music perform live in front of them. And that's exactly what happened. Thank you. We was able enough to take church to a group of people that had never experienced that. […]

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

37 ratings

Spotify

4.3 / 5

12 ratings

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Books guests

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