The Southern gospel singer whose "I Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now" the Tech Body quotes at the close of Bob's Trump book, marking one end of its range. Bob learned of her through iON and the churchgoer J.W., made her "a key singer on the show," and reads her signature number as readiness for death. New to it — start with dialogue 28.
Across the dialogues
Enters as the gospel voice at one pole of the Tech Body's closing register — the readiness-for-death song against which "you ain't seen nothing yet" is measured
Bob reads the Tech Body's own bracketing of its range — the gospel pole (Goodman) against the rock boast (Bachman-Turner Overdrive) — as the span across which "we are in charge now" is being declared.
"all the way from Vestal Goodman to Bachman-Turner Overdrive,"
Goodman is not a passing citation but a fixture of Bob's own cosmology — introduced by iON and J.W., she became a recurring voice on the radio show.
"And so we made her a key singer on the show."
Connections
Bob credits iON (and the southern churchgoer J.W.) with first telling him about Vestal Goodman.
In the Tech Body's closing line the two acts bracket its range — "from Vestal Goodman… all the way into you ain't seen nothing yet with Bachman-Turner Overdrive."