ORDINARY SOIL

The rich Midwestern soil once only gave life; now it brings death. All-Star narrators Scott Brick and George Newbern bring compassion and rage in dual timelines featuring Jake, a sick, drug-addicted, and suicidal farmer whose modern farming techniques in the Oklahoma panhandle are killing him. Brick passionately describes the horror and grief following the death of Jake's daughter from leukemia, and his stricken wife's mind hanging on by a thread. Meanwhile, the generational trauma that plagued Jake's childhood mirrors the societal and government persecution of Native Americans. Newbern depicts Aki, Jake's Choctaw ancestor, with a loving tone as he tries to teach Jake the importance of respecting the land to save his soul. Brick and Newbern add heartbreaking descriptions of abuse to this tragic tale. [Published: JANUARY 2026]