Knocking on the Golden Door
featuring Sara Watkins, Geoff Muldaur, and The SongBirds
Listen to the classic show
This classic show is from January 11, 2014, from San Francisco, California. Special guests: three-part harmonizers The SongBirds, music masters Jim Kweskin and Geoff Muldaur, and fiddler extraordinaire Sara Watkins. Plus, the Royal Academy of Radio Actors, Tim Russell, Sue Scott, and Fred Newman, The Guy’s All-Star Shoe Band, and the latest News from Lake Wobegon. Listen to the show.
Singer-songwriter and fiddle player Sara Watkins — along with her brother Sean and mandolinist Chris Thile — was a founding member of the Grammy-winning progressive bluegrass group Nickel Creek. In 2015, Sara and Sean released their "family-band-of-sorts project," Watkins Family Hour, and then embarked on a tour that included stops at Conan, NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert, and the Newport Folk Festival. Sara’s 2023 album with Nickel Creek is titled Celebrants.
"There are only three white blues singers," Richard Thompson once said, "and Geoff Muldaur is at least two of them." Once you hear Muldaur's otherworldly voice, you know what he meant. He was a founding member of the Jim Kweskin Jug Band and Paul Butterfield's Better Days group, and he has collaborated with Bonnie Raitt, Maria Muldaur, Jerry Garcia, and many other notables. An Emmy-winning composer of scores for television and film, Muldaur's solo recordings include Beautiful Isle of Somewhere.
The SongBirds — an apt name for this Los Angeles-based trio whose roots trace to Texas, Guatemala, and Australia. Singer-songwriters Erica Canales, Gaby Moreno, and Dannielle DeAndrea formed the group in 2009, taking their cue from the vocal trios of the 1920s, ’30s, and ’,40s. Two years later, they debuted their EP (The SongBirds), a five-song recording that shows off their incomparable blend and diverse musicality. Their album Dreamers Dream On was released in 2022.
This week’s show features a song parody of “Down by the Sally Gardens.” Here are the lyrics:
DOWN BY THE SALLY GARDENS
It was in the Golden Gate meadow,
My love and I did meet.
She rode her bike from Nob Hill
Down California Street.
I imagined we might marry,
And live in Ashbury and Haight
But her name I could not remember,
Was it Hilary or Kate?
We walked through the Shakespeare Garden
And stopped at the hot dog stand
And she had one with mustard
And I held her snow-white hand
She said, “When will I see you?
Tomorrow around four?”
I said, yes but wondered,
Was she Sarah or Lenore?
Down by the Japanese tea house,
My love and I did part.
She got on her bike
And rode off and broke my heart.
I come to San Francisco, and always think of her
Megan, Kaitlin, Maia, Heather, Nora, Jennifer.
Comedy Theater from A Prairie Home Companion
Enjoy the best of Garrison Keillor’s comic fables from A Prairie Home Companion, all about true love and other tribulations, brought to life by a cast of brilliant radio actors and guests. Revisit classic sketches such as the full-cast version of the opera “La Influenza,” a visit with a few of your favorite famous celebrities brought to voice by Tim Russell, a few animal calls from Fred Newman and Tom Keith, Bertha’s, Catchup, Be-Bop, the Bemidji Ice Fishing Opener Song, and so much more in the 3-plus hours on 3 CDs. 1997 Grammy Award Nominee. Get the CD or download.
A Prairie Home Companion Original Logo Hoodie
Like the men and women of Lake Wobegon, this comfortable shirt is strong and good-looking, and it features a spot-on reproduction of the original sign that anchored the stage during the live shows from 1974 to 1979. Handsomely re-created and screened onto the front of the black hoodie.
Hoodie is a cotton/poly blend and available in sizes S – XXL. Get the hoodie.
Also available: 100% cotton T-shirt. Buy