30-Minute Music Hour

Announcer

The following program is a PBS Wisconsin original production.

gentle guitar music

"Wildwood"

Announcer

I took a walk in the redwood trees Out in Californ-I-Ay I thought the trees might speak to me That warm and windless summer day Saying we've been here five hundred years By the wild Pacific sea But I took one look at those big old trees And I worried they would fall on me Worry my friend, worry my love Worry my shepherd and shield I've borrowed more trouble than I'll ever repay Frost on the summer fields I lay down with a beautiful man His eyes so kind and blue We lay down on a featherbed In the cool of a July afternoon I felt his skin, I felt the sun I felt my soul would mend Oh I loved that lovely man and I worried it was gonna end Worry my friend Worry my love Worry my shepherd and shield I've borrowed more trouble than I'll ever repay Frost on the summer field I woke up on a clear blue day Feeling light and wise The night had brought me peace at last And brightened all my skies I could see my worry gone from me Gone on the westbound track My worry had finally set me free Till I worried it was gonna come back Worry my friend Worry my love Worry my shepherd and shield I've borrowed more trouble than I'll ever repay Frost on the summer field I've borrowed more trouble than I'll ever repay Frost on the summer field

cheers and applause

Announcer

Thank you. Hello, team Wisconsin. I'm Katie Dahl and this is Rich Higdon, and when we play together our band is called Katie Dahl.

light laughter

Announcer

And, we live in Door County, Wisconsin. In the Great Northwoods. And, we are always excited, we tour around a lot, and we are always excited to find spicy food and, basic necessities like face soap, those are the things we can't get in Door County, and we're excited, excited whenever we get out into the real world. But I grew up in Minnesota, where, yeah, I know, very exciting, go Minnesota. In Minnesota, the arts funding is better and the football is worse, I would say, is the general trade-off that you make when you come to Wisconsin. So this is a song about growing up in Minnesota, which is, you know, anywhere you grow up, I think it has such deep pain and joy associated with it, and anywhere you were in middle school, right, especially so. So this is a song about what it felt like to grow up in Minnesota. And it is called "Oh Minnesota." One, two, three, four.

guitar music

Announcer

Oh Minnesota, I was born on your highways I have crossed through your skyways Watched the Mississippi roll I am your prodigal daughter Swam your ten thousand waters Spent all your shiny quarters at a bar in Sevastopol Oh Minnesota, you are my beginner's luck You're hockey pucks and potlucks Gray ducks and purple rain You're the night on Lake Nokomis When I kissed her in the snow You're the streetlight glow I can see from the airplane And I keep an agate in my pocket And a jacket in my car Hey, Minnesota, call me back if I stray too far Yeah-ay Oh, Minnesota, I've tracked salt into your halls In the corners of your malls You have held me while I cried When I wore the wrong clothes When the other kids didn't know me When I left my shoes at home Had to wear my muddy boots inside And I keep an agate in my pocket And a jacket in my car Hey, Minnesota, call me back if I stray too far Yeah yea-ay Oh, Minnesota, I am your fickle lover I wear holes in all your gloves I unravel all the yarn But when the air turns bitter When my voice starts to quiver I drive right across that river, straight into your arms And I keep an agate in my pocket And a jacket in my car Hey, Minnesota, call me back if I stray too far Yeah yea-ay Oh, Minnesota, you are my oldest friend When I start to bend I think it's you that keeps me strong Yeah, it's something in your sweaters In your sensible shoes That says it's me you choose That you're the place where I belong Yeah, it says it's me you choose That you're the place where I belong

cheers and applause

Announcer

Thank you. So, the way that I came to live in Door County after growing up in Minnesota is that I have family roots there going back a long way, so. Rich and I have a son at home. We told him to stay at home. I hope he did. And he's three, and he is the seventh generation of my family that lives in Door County. So, what's really cool is, like, going around to places that I know that my grandma or her grandparents spent time, and being there with my son, and feeling all those resonances. So my mom and I and my son were putting flowers on my grandma's grave a couple months ago, and, our son, his name is Guthrie, and he was kind of running around, and he sat down on one grave and my mom said, "Guthrie! You're sitting on great-grandma's first boyfriend, Conwell."

strums guitar

Announcer

So, you know, like, things like that, that don't necessarily happen if you live in a place where you don't have all that history. So, this is a song kind of about that, it's about my grandma and it's about my son, and it's the title track of our new album, called "Wildwood." The album's Wildwood and the song is called "Wildwood Girl."

gentle guitar music

Announcer

I thought about you today as I drove the highway Straight down from North Bay toward the old canal Like I was tracing your lifeline From that cabin in '29 To the rusty old stop sign where you said farewell You came in the season of the honeybees Heavy fruit on the cherry trees Your mother on her hands and knees On the bedroom floor Midwife running up the muddy road All the way from Liberty Grove Same road that I drove When my boy was born Now in the bells out over the bay Ringing out at the end of the day I hear you

vocalizing

Announcer

The wildwood girl Hmm mmmm, the wildwood girl Growing up in the shadow of Death's Door Echo of the Great War Clean-cut and dirt-poor and stronger than the boys Yeah you could pick a hundred pails in one day And when the evening came You had songs and cardamom cake, simple joys Now in the bells out over the bay All ringing out at the end of the day I hear you

vocalizing

Announcer

The wildwood girl Hmmm hmmm mmm The wildwood girl In the times when I am kind In my eyes so blue and blind My sweet tooth, my worried mind, my voice The black buckets and the yellow yarn Late light on the broken barns My good heart, my strong arms, my little boy Now in the bells out over the bay All ringing out at the end of the day I hear you

vocalizing

Announcer

The wildwood girl Now in the bells out over the bay Ringing out at the end of the day I hear you

vocalizing

Announcer

The wildwood girl Yeah, the wildwood girl Ah ah ahh The wildwood girl

audience applauds

Announcer

Thank you. Well, it's rare, but from time to time, singer-songwriterdom is not the most lucrative career one could choose. Usually very lucrative but once in a while not, and then of course, when that happens, you have to go to where the real money is, you have to get a day job. And, of course, the place you can make a lot of money fast is in the world of musical theater. So that is where I flee to when the money is not as good as I'd like. So, I've written-- I wrote one musical about German prisoners of war, I co-wrote with a couple of other people, James Valcq and Emilie Coulson. And, that was not your typical music theater topic. And now, I'm going to the more traditional musical theater topic of eminent domain.

laughter

Announcer

And so, this next show I'm writing all by myself. And it's about these two sisters who live in Door Country in 1908, and the State of Wisconsin has decided to put the first state park right on their land. So, these sisters have sort of been estranged, and they're having to reckon with their relationship in the light of this eminent domain conflict. So, this is the title song of the show. The older sister's singing it to the younger sister, who's been away. It's called "The Fisherman's Daughter." One two three, one two three.

gentle guitar music

Announcer

I am the fisherman's daughter I know waves and wind I know salt and barrels and tin I know the ways of the water I know blades and twine I always was his rock of Gibraltar And he was mine I know the fisherman's story A boat across the sea Cut a clearing Built a cabin Planted an apple tree He learned to fish from dock and from dory Took a wife at thirty-three She died at forty and left him two daughters Nora and me Nora Always the smart one Took a job in Chicago I stuck around Now it's been two years That Papa's been gone She went back to the city the very same day That we laid him in the ground When I was the fisherman's daughter I knew how my days would end Light a candle in the window and guide him back home again I knew how to pray he'd be safe on the water I knew how to pace the floor But now Nora I don't know If I should leave A light in the window for you anymore

cheers and applause

Announcer

Thank you. So, where we live in Door County, there are a ton of great restaurants. Right? There's Al Johnson's, which has, famously, a grass roof that goats eat off the top of. It has excellent pancakes. There is Good Eggs, the breakfast cabana. They're just great assortments of things, and I love them all, aside from the fact that some of them close for half the year. But you can't blame them. And so, so here's Door County, right? It's the little thumb of Wisconsin, and north of that knuckle there, there are no chain restaurants. They're all locally-owned places, so what feels awesome about that is that, not only there are economic reasons to feel awesome about it, like all that money stays in the local economy, but also, you know the owner when you go in there, and, you know their children, who have to work in the family business at early hours on weekends that they wish they didn't have to and, it feels good. It feels like, "This is how it should be." And so, about 10 years ago, they tried to put a Subway restaurant all the way up there at the tip of the thumb and I thought that was such a bummer, so I wrote, I wrote a Subway song-- I wrote this song that I sang at a village board meeting. And, it's called "Hometown Tables." In the end, they did not put the Subway in, so... I'm not saying it's 'cause of the song, but let's just pretend it is, so...

swinging guitar music

Announcer

We've got goats up on the rooftop We've got whitefish in the bay We've got Spotted Cows to fill our cups At the end of every day A White Gull roosts at the end of Main Street Just a block from Summertime Autumn days that flow like water Winter nights that glow like wine We've got singing by the fireside We've got dancing in the barns Sometimes the Northern Lights go rolling Like a sky-high ball of yarn Some folks pray for rain on Monday Some just take it as it comes Straight from the mighty hand of God To the top of his thumb Right? So I say keep the door wide open I say welcome, come inside I don't want to be unfriendly I'm not trying to be unkind But I say some things still are sacred Please don't try to chain me in I'll break my bread at hometown tables In the company of friends My grandma rests up on the hillside I'll be with her by and by But for right now she's just dreaming And I think she's wondering why Why we'd give up all this gold For just some flashing in the pan Why we'd trade this milk and honey For a supper from a can I say keep the door wide open I say welcome, come inside I don't want to be unfriendly I'm not trying to be unkind But I say some things still are sacred Please don't try to chain me in I'll break my bread at hometown tables In the company of friends I know we are not the center I know this is not the end I know winds are always changing And I know strong trees have some bend There are wars across the ocean There is terror in the sky Folks are building up their fences There are bigger fish to fry But this is the home I've searched for I will not be misled Sometimes the place that matters most Is where we choose to break our bread I say keep the door wide open I say welcome, come inside I don't want to be unfriendly I'm not trying to be unkind But I say some things still are sacred If you try to chain me in I'll break my bread at hometown tables In the company of friends I'll break my bread at hometown tables In the company of friends

audience applauds

Announcer

Thank you. Well, thank you, excellent. Thank you so much for listening, everybody. This has been very fun. We are excited to go out into the world and find the aforementioned spicy food and face soap that awaits us, in this, the non-northern Door County part of the universe. I think I mentioned earlier we have a son at home, and he's about to turn four. And I wrote this song when I was pregnant with him, around Christmastime. Feels true for me all through the wintertime, so, really all the time, these days.

chuckles

Announcer

So, this is called "In the Dark." Thanks so much. Thanks so much for listening.

gentle guitar music

Announcer

It's that time of year When it's hard to say What's being born again And what is dying It's that time of year Brightest stars and the darkest days Woman heavy on a bed of straw The cattle crying In the dark, who brings the light In the dark, who brings the light Last night a whiteout snow My love stacking wood Sparks in an iron stove North Wisconsin Everything we'll never know Gut full of fear and good The blanket that my mother wove The life we've chosen In the dark, who brings the light

vocalizing

Announcer

In the dark, who brings the light

vocalizing

Announcer

I've got a baby boy I don't even know his name He is sleeping here inside me Tiny little baby boy Set to come with the springtime rain Set to stay for a little while Beside me In the dark Who brings the light In the dark, who brings the light In the dark, who brings the light Mmmm mmm mmm It's that time of year When it's hard to say What's being born again And what is dying

cheers and applause

Announcer

Thanks so much, everybody!

audience cheering

Announcer

Thank you very much!