Back to the Palace from 1996

featuring Throat Culture and Kenny Sidle

Garrison SOLO on June 6th!

Thanks to all who came to celebrate 50 years of the old show this past weekend in Scranton and Akron! Great crowds at both venues. Next up, a solo show on June 6th at 7 p.m. at the Rialto Theater in Loveland, Colorado. Get Tickets.

Listen to the classic show from June 1, 1996

This week, we revisit a classic that was performed live from the Palace Theatre in Columbus, Ohio, with Kenny Sidle and his All-Star Band and Throat Culture, plus our fine house band led by Rich Dworsky and the Royal Academy of Radio Actors, including Tom Keith, Sue Scott, and Tim Russell.

Highlights include Garrison talking about Ohio and singing “Banks of the Ohio” with the band, plus a reading of Thurber, a great “Summer’s End” from Pat Donohue and the band, Kenny Sidle performing “Cottage Hill” and “Orange Blossom Special,” Throat Culture singing “Easter Island Head” and “Money.” And there’s Duct Tape, Cafe Boeuf, Betha’s Kitty Boutique, and the latest News from Lake Wobegon. Listen to the show.

Fiddler Kenny Sidle was born in 1931 in Toboso, Ohio, one of nine children —five boys and four girls — each one of them musically talented. For his part, Kenny began playing the fiddle at the age of five. He made his first public appearance a year later — playing with his father in one of the last Medicine Shows held in Toboso. Kenny’s pay for that first job was a box of chocolate-covered cherries. When he reached adulthood, Sidle worked in Newark, Ohio, in the Owens-Corning Fiberglass Company, but he always kept up with his fiddle playing. Sidle captured state championships in five states and won many regional and local championships across the nation. His playing dominated almost an entire decade in the eyes of the Ohio Country-Western Music Association, which named him Instrumentalist of the Year for nine years in a row (1973–1981). In 1988, he was recognized as a National Heritage Fellow by the National Endowment for the Arts. The prestigious Heritage Award is given to traditional folk artisans and musicians for their contributions to American culture. Sidle's home county honored him in 1991, when he was inducted into the Licking County Hall of Fame. In 1994, Sidle's virtuosity was honored by Opryland’s Grand Masters Fiddle Championship — Sidle received the contest's Distinguished Fiddler Award. Kenny continued to perform and teach until he passed away in 2021.

The group Throat Culture got its start after Bernard Wilburn attended a workshop about a cappella singing. Wilburn thought up the name — Throat Culture — and got a few friends of his to join the ensemble. Their first performance was an impromptu street-corner concert in the arts district of Columbus. They began with the 1969 hit “The Israelites,” and a crowd began to gather. So, they kept singing, and soon the crowd was enormous — big enough to stop traffic and to create an instant following. Throat Culture began to play in bars, clubs, schools, festivals, and at weddings and corporate events. In 1993, they recorded their first album, A Cappella Head.

Here are the verses that run throughout the sketch “Ballard” from this classic show. Enjoy!

O Western wind, when wilt thou blow
That the small rains down shall rain.
O that my love were in my arms
And I in my bed again.

Down by the Salley Gardens, my love and I did meet.
She passed the Salley Gardens on little snow-white feet
She bid me take love easy, as the leaves grow on the tree,
But I being young and foolish, with her did not agree.

In a field down by the river, my love and I did stand
And on my leaning shoulder she laid her snow-white hand
She bid me take life easy, as the grass grows on the weirs,
But I was young and foolish and now am full of tears.

O Donna Johnson you are my darling
Come set you down upon my knee
And tell to me, love, the very reason
That I am slighted so by thee.

I’m deep in love so I cannot deny it,
My heart lies smothered in my chest,
’Twas long ago we walked in the meadow
And still my heart can know no rest

The joys of love are but a moment long
The pain of love endures the whole night long.

My love loves me, and all the wonders I see.
A rainbow shines in my window, my love loves me.

And now she’s gone, in the cold gray dawn
And I must pick up my shovel and carry on.

O love is handsome and love is fine
Gay as a jewel when first it is new
But love grows old and waxes cold
And fades away like morning dew.

Down by the Salley Gardens, my love and I did pass.
I walked beside the river, where she lay upon the grass.
And all was young and lovely, the green leaves on the tree,
And I turned and I forgot her, and my love is still with me.

O Western wind, when wilt thou blow
That the small rains down shall rain.
O that my love were in my arms
And I in my bed again.

Help celebrate the 50th anniversary of A Prairie Home Companion with this handsome black T-shirt!

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Experience the charm of Lake Wobegon with Garrison Keillor’s 1984 monologues. This three-disc set offers over three hours of humor and heart.

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