For today’s special Christmas Eve edition of the show, Patty is joined in the studio by Jim Leary, UW–Madison professor emeritus of folklore and Scandinavian studies.
Jim was recently nominated for a Grammy award in the Best Album Notes category for his work on the album Alpine Dreaming: The Helvetia Records Story, 1920–1924, released this year on the Archeophone label.
Over the course of the hour, he and Patty discuss the history of Helvetia Records and the holiday traditions of immigrant communities in Wisconsin in the early 20th century, interspersed with music clips from Alpine Dreaming and Folksongs of Another America: Field Recordings from the Upper Midwest, 1937–1946.
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