Episode published: Friday 01/02/2026
Michael: Hi everyone, welcome to another episode of Every Day is Groundhog Day (Except for the Days When It's Not), the only podcast devoted to the holiday, Groundhog Day. I'm your host, Michael from Countdown to Groundhog Day. Hope you enjoyed our last episode about Harold Ramis Day and Chicago Harry. For today's episode, we'll be speaking with Edwin Everhart, a musician who released an album full of Groundhog Day-themed songs right before Groundhog Day last year called On Groundhog Day. The album features 20 songs, each with some sort of connection to the holiday, and envisions a parallel universe very similar to ours, where Groundhog Day is celebrated more widely and has a number of unique traditions that have sprung up around it. We speak about the album in general, and each song in detail. Listen to the interview, which starts now, to learn more.
So, today I'm speaking with Edwin Everhart, who released the album On Groundhog Day shortly before the holiday this past winter. The album description says, 'This is a holiday album from a not-too-distant alternate universe where Groundhog Day thrives as an important neighborhood festival.' So, welcome, Edwin.
Edwin Everhart: Hi! Thanks very much for having me.
Michael: Okay, so before we get into the album, I just wanted to get an idea of who you are when you're not composing and putting together Groundhog Day-themed albums. I assume that is not your primary means of income.
Edwin Everhart: It has not been, tragically, but you know, maybe someday.
Michael: Let's hope so.
Edwin Everhart: Yeah. So, I've been a teacher in the Pittsburgh public schools, and I've been a lecturer at the University of Pittsburgh. Right now, I've got a job teaching at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. I'm over here in Massachusetts for a couple of years. I'll probably be back in Pittsburgh long-term after that, but that's what I'm mostly doing.
Michael: So, On Groundhog Day. What inspired you to create an album full of Groundhog Day music?
Edwin Everhart: Yeah. In Pittsburgh, we have these big city parks. And a lot of places you have a park in the town or something, you have, like, a picnic area, and there's a table for barbecue set up, and so on. And in the Pittsburgh city parks, you can't reserve those in the winter, right? Between October something and April something, you can't book them, which means nobody else can book them, so you can just show up and hang out there if you're prepared for it to be cold. So, I had this thing going where I would get together with friends in the winter and we'd have a little, you know, not exactly barbecue, but have a little fire outdoors in the controlled barbecue set up in the park, and it was always lovely because we had our pick of whatever pavilion we wanted because nobody else is there, we had a nice little time. I had some friends who were into singing rounds together, and singing other little interesting newly-composed songs together. And I wanted to do some stuff for Groundhog Day because I think it's phenomenal that we have this big celebration in Punxsutawney and some other places. But I wanted to do something that you could do right there with your friends and neighbors. So, a couple of years ago, since we were in this group that was writing all these rounds anyway, I wrote a couple that were about groundhogs and Groundhog Day. And then I took another couple that we already were doing and adapted the lyrics to be about the groundhog. And having that existing for a little bit, then the next year comes around, and I'm like, 'Okay, well, I've got these songs ready to go, I've got this whole idea of hanging out outdoors. Why don't I put together a Groundhog Day party for the neighborhood and for everybody to come over?' This would be two or three years ago. And it was a great old time. I mean, I'm the kind of person who's always trying to organize a dinner party, trying to get people together. I'm always the person setting up a social occasion, right? We had all these folks come over, and we had the fire going, and I think it was my sister-in-law, brought these groundhog-shaped cupcakes that she made. So, people went all out with bringing food, doing all kinds of great stuff. We had a groundhog puppet, a giant groundhog head that people could put on and dance around in. So, we're not waiting for the wild animal, we're not bothering the rodent, we're doing it ourselves. So, anyway, we had this great time, and then that sort of presented the idea to me of like, well, this is a holiday with some real potential here. What I could do, I've done a little amateur recording here and there, I could do a holiday album about Groundhog Day. And so, the model is very much like a Christmas album, right? So, you have the liturgical, you know, you have the church songs; you have like some of the really traditional, like several-hundred-year-old songs; you have the pop songs; you have the love songs; you know, the breakup song on Christmas. Well, you could do the breakup song on Groundhog Day, right? And then you have like, you know, like 'Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer,' you know, the humoristic, kids-oriented Christmas songs? Why don't we have some of that for Groundhog Day, too? Okay. So, then it's like, all right, the idea is just rolling, right, and I'm having too much fun just thinking about it. So now, if we're doing a Groundhog Day holiday album covering that range of stuff, we need to build this out a little bit, right? We need to build out the holiday in terms of, like, what it can be. No disrespect to how anyone else does it; I love how it's done in various places, different places have their different traditions. But to me, I was thinking like, this is maybe a little thin, and we want to have a little bit more moving parts. We want to have a little bit more chapters to this story. One of the things I thought of was like, all right- Looking again to like the Christmas album. Like, Grandma's not getting run over by baby Jesus's reindeer. Grandma's getting run over by Santa Claus' reindeer. Like, Santa Claus is this big, charismatic character. Baby Jesus is, in some way, the center of the story, but no disrespect, he's not jumping and dancing around and saying lines on Christmas. Santa Claus is saying lines. You have this other charismatic character who's doing stuff, right? So, that helps you do more with the holiday to have, like, another guy attached to it. So, I'm like, all right, I need another character because the groundhog is wonderful, but I'm not putting lines in the groundhog's mouth, really. I'm fine with it being a naturalistic creature, more or less, you know? Maybe with supernatural powers in certain places. One of the things that came up was like, all right, I'm going to have a trickster character. And it came up with this trickster Earth spirit who punishes you for, like, polluting the soil for like, you know, making it hard to do agriculture. The groundhog is coming out of the ground, coming out of the burrow, and this spirit of the Earth is like, you know, it's still the winter, but like we're looking ahead to spring, and like, I really want to be ready for spring. If we want to be ready for spring, the earth has to be like ready to go; the earth has to have been taken care of over the winter. So anyway, we come up with this little trickster character. It was a little too easy to write songs about the trickster character because that was like really fun to think about. So, then it was like, 'All right, I have 17 songs. We're done.' And then I'd be like, 'No, I have another one. Okay. 18 songs. Final stop. Cap. 18... Nooo, I have a 19th. Okay.' So finally, we stopped at 20 songs, which is like, felt like quite a lot. I should also say the whole recording thing, like how do we record this? Just also very neighbor, you know, amateur, friends-based situation. If you're listening, you can, this may be (I hope) part of the appeal of it is like, you can tell that this is just some people hanging out in a basement, jamming away. We didn't get a studio. We didn't practice this for months and months. This isn't refined after going on tour. In some cases, people learned the song 10 minutes before what you're hearing on the recording, and we're just jamming out, having a good old time.
Michael: Okay. So, I can hear a lot of the elements you mentioned there. There's a lot of talk about standing by the fire, being by the fire. There's that one song about somebody wearing a groundhog mask. So, I guess the trickster character, that's the Mud Painter. Is that?
Edwin Everhart: Yeah. The Mud Painter.
Michael: Okay. And there's also the... Saint Valenhole. I think you said, is that like a creation of one of your friends? Is that?
Edwin Everhart: Yeah. Olivia wrote the Saint Valenhole song, you know, maybe three or four years ago. And then I was reaching out to different friends, like, 'Does anyone have songs or poems about groundhogs or Groundhog Day?' And then Olivia reached out as like, 'I have this one. You can absolutely do a cover of it for the album.' So, we just threw that one in there too. And that one is [laughs] a really weird... Because Olivia does it as a performance, too. You know, she'll repeat every line and wants the audience to sing along the second time on the line. But it's just this long chanting-like thing. It's kind of out there, but it's fun.
Michael: Yeah. I believe he gets murdered with rodents filling all of his...
Edwin Everhart: His crevices.
Michael: Yeah. So, that's a weird one, but it is kind of catchy.
Edwin Everhart: To Olivia. She's a special bird.
Michael: And I noticed a lot of people with Everhart on the album, so are those like... I assume family members or...?
Edwin Everhart: Yes. I made my parents and my brother, and my sister-in-law all get in on this. [laughs] There might be another one or two relations in there, somehow lurking.
Michael: So, do you want to kind of go down the tracks and just see if there's anything particular... There's at least two that are in German, it looks like. I guess those are like... Are those existing texts or poems, or...?
Edwin Everhart: Let's come to those in the order, maybe. But I'll just say as an answer to that and to many other things on here, the album is intended to, like, not tell you, but to show you, right? It's meant to be like, this is from a different universe. It doesn't need to be explained. When you hear the song 'Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer,' it's like, you know why there's reindeer. I'm not telling you that Santa Claus is this guy who wears red, who comes at this time and drives in a sled with the reindeer, dah-dah-dah, it's background information. So, like, this is something I wanted to have this album have in a way of like, it's just from that universe, so it doesn't have to explain itself.
Michael: Right. We all know what the Mud Painter is.
Edwin Everhart: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. It kind of teaches you, especially the little more kids ones, and when you can imagine, like, the lyricist is like, 'God, I have to write a song about the Mud Painter. I'll just have a lot of the lyrics be describing what he is.' There's stuff like that about Santa Claus, too, where it's like, all right, easy lyric about Santa Claus is describe the guy. You know?
Michael: All right. 'When the Neighbors' is the first one.
[clip of song]
Edwin Everhart: I would say this is a song that is not going to be considered your, like, liturgical Groundhog Day song. This is not the sacred Groundhog Day. This is like a Groundhog Day carol; you can sing this with your family, you can sing this with your neighbors, maybe out at the fire, maybe around the hearth in the week leading up to Groundhog Day, when you're trying to get into the spirit. It's celebrating the value of how much we love our neighbors, which is one of those things I wanted the imaginary holiday to be about. Like, yeah, everybody in your neighborhood, you know them! You know them quite well. You know that Jane is a retired nurse, and you know that Timmy has a huge amount of firewood, and you know that everybody, if they see your kid falling on the street with, like, a banged-up knee, they know to pick up your kid, and they know where your kid lives. They'll take him right home to you because they know you. You know, we're able to sort of support each other. We know who has what, and who has what needs, and just kind of putting us in that world a little bit.
Michael: Nice. 'Full Moon Outside My Burrow.'
[clip of song]
Edwin Everhart: Yeah, okay. So, this is one of the rounds that I adapted from somebody else that wrote the original, Chandler York, and this one is from the perspective of the groundhog. This is absolutely something that I imagine the neighbors are singing together, you know, around the fire at night, on the Groundhog Day eve or something like that. What is it like to be the groundhog? You don't want to wake up, it's too early, you know.
Michael: All right. So, 'The Ballad of Saint Valenhole,' we talked about this one a little bit.
[clip of song]
Edwin Everhart: Yeah. So, Olivia wrote this one and, you know, there's this sort of celebration of this imagined figure of Valenhole, is a combination of Valentine's and groundhog burrow, I guess. But you know, being able to tell the future by caring for the lowliest of creatures is very charming.
Michael: Okay. 'Of All the Big Rats.'
[clip of song]
Edwin Everhart: Yeah. The original here is a round by Moondog, who is this, you know, kind of big name, 20th-century composer who used to wear, you know, big Viking horns, helmet, and like, just this really, really out there character. The original one is about the owl, and goes 'All the gay birds that I do see, the owl is by far the fairest to me.' So, it was very easy to change it over to the groundhog. And then, you know, this is also, I think the rounds are somewhere between liturgical, and you can do it outside at the fire.
Michael: 'In the Glow.'
[clip of song]
Edwin Everhart: This one... Okay, so 'In the Glow,' number five, and then where's the other one? Yeah, 'See the Mountains,' number nine.
[clip of song]
Edwin Everhart: Both of these are, like, scraps of music that I had sort of written, like, I don't know, on a bus or on the train, or some long, long, long trip I was on. And I was doing this thing where I was going to teach myself Morse code by, like, writing a song about Morse code. So, this was a little scrap of melody that I wrote about something totally different that fell apart, but then I'm like, All right, well, I'll use that for a song here. And we can easily just like, you know, put it in the setting of the evening celebration with the neighbors. Number six, 'The Groundhog Remembers.'
[clip of song]
Edwin Everhart: The songs of buntings and sparrows returning, returning. This is another one of those wonderful rounds by somebody else who wrote a very wonderful one, Becky Reardon, 'A Turtle Remembers.' And then here, we just have the groundhog dreaming of what the fall was like before going into the burrow, you know, and dreaming of the warm weather coming back. Yeah, that was a fun one.
Michael: Okay. And then next, you have 'Old Time Religion.'
[clip of song]
Edwin Everhart: Yeah, so 'Old Time Religion' of course, is the revival hymn. But there's this parody version, which I don't know, some folks might like, some folks might not enjoy that it's a parody. But, you know, I like to think about all the different religion stuff that people have done over the years in different places. And I think that's fun to think about. And if we can borrow this fun song, Pete Seeger spread around these words, but they're known in the folk music community. If you go on Mudcat, there's like, you know, another, like, hundred verses to this that people have written. But yeah, we have just this list of all these different religious practices, kind of tongue-in-cheek, the religious things that people have done over the millennia. And then, we end with the groundhog; the groundhog is telling us that a new springtime is coming. We're looking at this as it's a little bit supernatural what the groundhog is doing, but we're also looking at it with some fun, with some levity, not totally deadly serious. It's a cute thing.
Michael: 'Deeper in Darkness.'
[clip of song]
Edwin Everhart: Yeah, this is one of my original rounds, and this is not from the perspective of the groundhog, but from our perspective out at night, waiting for the time when the groundhog will come out. So, this is, you know, either at night- You could do this in the Punxsutawney style of observation as well. You know, something that we can sing out in the darkness when we're waiting for the groundhog to appear. But in my universe, the groundhog always gets the feminine; she is coming. So, but you know, you can do he too. In your neighborhood, do it in your neighborhood's tradition. And then we get into the German ones. So, 'Auf, Auf, Du Schläfer.'
[clip of song]
Edwin Everhart: So, both of these say in the liner notes that these are German folk songs perhaps brought to Pennsylvania by Pennsylvania Dutch settlers in the 18th century, perhaps. The perhaps is doing a lot of work because I don't think they were, right? But this is giving us the possibility- I mean, this is where, as we understand it, the idea of Groundhog Day does come from historically. But I don't think these songs about the groundhog were brought because these, first of all, 'Auf auf du Schleifer, Erzmurmeltier' so, 'Up, up you sleeper, et cetera, et cetera, You sleeping marmot.' That one, I think, is the original text, you know, 'Wake up, wake up, stop hibernating.' It's a good morning song kind of thing. But it's not about the Groundhog Day type thing specifically. But why not? It is for the purpose of this album. 'Der Waldmurmeltier.'
[clip of song]
Edwin Everhart: This is the German for groundhog. But so, Waldmurmeltier is the, you know, North American groundhog. There isn't such a simple word for it in German, that's why it's so long. So, the original song here is about like the hunter; the Jäger, 'The hunter has a lovely time out in the woods and sees a deer. Ha-ha ha-ha says the hunter. How delighted in the green meadow is the hunter.' But instead of the hunter here, it's the groundhog who is very happy to be out in the woods, to be in a little meadow, to see the friendly deer, who the groundhog is not hunting, but just neighbor of.
Michael: So, just to be clear, these are existing texts or poems. This is in your world of they maybe were Pennsylvania Dutch songs that were brought over for Groundhog Day in particular. These are existing or modified?
Edwin Everhart: Right, right, right. So, these are existing German songs. Both of these are existing German songs, and they both are... Certainly, Waldmurmeltier is from the Palatine region of Germany, which is where Pennsylvania Dutch people mostly came from, as I understand. But I don't have any evidence in reality that it was brought by Pennsylvania Dutch people. And especially in this case, with the one that used to be, you know, the actual traditional folk song is about the hunter, obviously, for the album, we changed it to be about the groundhog. You know, you can imagine a world where... I made that change, but somebody else could have made that change, too. Maybe they made it one hundred fifty years ago in German.
Michael: All right. So, 'Down With the Rosemary and Bays.'
[clip of song]
Edwin Everhart: Neither the text nor the tune is original, but combining them is. So, it's a cute thing to be able to do this. This Robert Herrick poem is basically about seasonal changes, but a seasonal change as reflected in how you decorate your house differently in the different seasons, you know? So, rosemary and bay and mistletoe are all up in, like, December. And then, you take those down, you put up box tree, you put up the box leaves. And then you take down the box, and you put up the yew, and then you take down the yew, and you put up the green rushes and grasses and fresh oak leaves. So, apparently, [laughs] it used to be this, I guess, English tradition of you just snip a few fresh green leaves every season of the year, every month or so, you just get some new ones. But, you know, the idea that like, yeah, we're moving into a different season and we're going to, you know, redecorate for that. The groundhog is out to tell us that the time is changing. And here, also, the liner notes say 'Text attributed to Robert Herrick on the occasion of Groundhog Day.' Now, that bit we added. Robert Herrick didn't write this for Groundhog Day, but maybe in an alternate universe, Robert Herrick absolutely did.
Michael: Perhaps. Got it.
Edwin Everhart: Perhaps.
Michael: All right. So, then we've got 'Mark Me Not,' which is, I guess, the first Mud Painter appearance.
[clip of song]
Edwin Everhart: That's right. We're kind of getting sillier as we go deeper into the album in a way. Yeah, so this is not by Thomas Ravenscroft. It would be amazing if it were. Ravenscroft is an amazing composer and documenter of many traditional rounds. But, yeah, this one is meant to, you know, throw the Mud Painter far back into history as a folk story and character. In the 1600s edition of the Mud Painter, the Mud Painter carries around a pot with mud and marks you with it, and has one glinting eye. But later, we'll see that the mud painter isn't so much reaching a hand into a pot or only having one eye, but we'll see how the Mud Painter sort of transforms over the imagined history.
Michael: All right. So, then we have 'The Dancer.' This is a romantic song.
[clip of song]
Edwin Everhart: Yes, we have to have our Groundhog Day love songs, number one and two. So, 'The Dancer,' we have our like, you know, you're out at the you're out at the fire, and somebody's wearing the big... Somebody is doing the groundhog dance. And, you know, people doing a dance are showing off that they can move those gams, they can shake it. You know, they're showing that... So, it's pretty sexy when people are good at doing a dance at any age, however old you get, is what I mean. You know, you could be elderly, you can still show that you got it, you know? So, this is like, you maybe had seen around the neighborhood, but man, you didn't notice them this way until you see them doing the dance. And it's like taking over, you're 'Oh my god, I have to go.' Suddenly, I'm overcome with a need to go, like... And it's also a very kind of innocent tone because this could be from the perspective of like a young person realizing they're falling in love with someone for the first time in their life. All they want to do is stand nearby. They're not even asking to hold hands. You know? [laughs] It's very sort of... But they're still overcome with... They're enchanted with this person.
Michael: And they're wearing a groundhog mask, so that, of course, adds to the appeal. So, then the next one is the breakup song.
Edwin Everhart: That's right. You've got to have it.
Michael: 'Last Year When We Stood Here.'
[clip of song]
Edwin Everhart: 'Last year, when we stood here by the fire.' Yeah. Now, we're back at Groundhog Day. Last year we were here together, and this year, all I'm doing is thinking of how I was here with you last time at Groundhog Day because, of course, Groundhog Day is such an important holiday, you're always thinking where you were last Groundhog Day. It's very nostalgic, you know. [laughs] As much as it is about thinking about, you know, the changing of the seasons, it's also, you know, you think about who you spent it with last time, since it's so important to you.
Michael: I was concerned. I was listening to this this morning. I was like, is 15 the direct result of 14? Like, should we read into that, that those could be the same characters?
Edwin Everhart: Yeah. I mean, I think we have to imagine, you know, you have your pop star comes out with their, like, love song one year, and then the next year they release this song. You know, they've had their very public, very dramatic breakup.
Michael: All right. So, then we have 'Who Has Got A Big Furry Hat.'
[clip of song]
Edwin Everhart: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Now, we're getting into it big time with the Mud Painter. This one, I'm so pleased with this, like, kind of pop vibe that we achieved. And also, this one is in 7/8; it's a slightly unusual time signature. So, it's meant to give the sense of like, you know, maybe a '60s or '70s pop group decided to come up with this in their garage. And then here, okay, so we see that the Mud Painter has a mop instead of a bowl. And the Mud Painter also wears an eye patch now. Instead of like having one eye, there's a weary... This is characterized differently over histories. Anyway. But yeah, this one was just... It was great because we looped the whole song a number of times. Who has got a big furry hat? And we don't answer who it is until the ending cadence.
Michael: The Mud Painter. Okay, and then 'He's Gettin' Painted,' which can use the Mud Painter songs.
[clip of song]
Edwin Everhart: That's right. We've got our humoristic song here where, you know, you'll get painted if you dump your, I don't know, oil in the ground or whatever you do.
Michael: Yeah, so it talks about pesticides and throwing away trash, heavy metal ash. Yeah.
Edwin Everhart: You bring your you bring something contaminated with an invasive species or something, you know? It was fun, also in this one, because the Mud Painter features... Well, isn't mentioned by name, right? But 'If you see a little guy with a patch over one eye,' and then we put in a sound effect to represent what the Mud Painter sounds like. It's a little, 'Yipee!' And just, I should also add, like, I'm also imagining that in this universe, you know, some neighborhoods you'd have like, All right, this year we need a kid to play the Mud Painter. Anybody have a kid who's like seven, eight or nine who can put on the costume and like run around at the festival, and like threaten everybody a little bit? It's kind of a game of you have to run away from the Mud Painter, but they can't be too irresponsible because you don't want them to actually- It's kind of about the chase more than just nailing you every time. Part of the thing is to imagine it more and more as, like, a costume that people can put on, you know, to enact this character.
Michael: Okay, then we have 'Our Groundhog' next.
[clip of song]
Edwin Everhart: Man, so okay. The last three items here are all poems, pre-existing poems, that we were huge fans of. I found these like... Okay, the only three poems I could find about groundhogs are some of the only ones. There are very few beyond this that I was able to find. Each of these, we wanted to just sort of record, partially read, partially chanted, with a little bit of musical background, dramatically read out. None of them is rhythmic enough to turn it into a song, but they were all just so delightful. This poem, 'Our Groundhog,' is just so cheeky about the groundhog: 'His behind wobbling as he slips into his lair.' [chuckles] And then, you know, the ending sense of like the groundhog's hope of the pups opening their eyes to summer, rolling in clover is just very, very delightful as well. To deliver this one, it was just, like, ten of us sitting together tightly packed around this table with the microphones on it. And we were like, okay, [sings two notes] you do the E natural or A natural in any octave, and just like stick on one of those notes. And then somebody gets a little bit of improvisation beyond that, but we just mostly, like, this open fifth, just chanting. It was nice. You know, that open note, just plain chanting in contrast with this humoristic text was very lovely.
Michael: 'If We Were as Brilliant as Groundhogs.'
[clip of song]
Edwin Everhart: Yeah. So, Philip Terman very kindly gave us explicit permission to use this, too. The other ones, it was just, like, all right, we're going to use these, but make them free, and you know, we give credit on all of them, but Philip Terman very kindly did actually get back in touch with us about this. The poem, 'If We Were as Brilliant as Groundhogs,' is just about the season change; it's just about what the winter is like, and if we were as brilliant as groundhogs, we would sleep through it, basically. But it's a wonderful characterization of the sun, and the sun going away and wanting to make us envious of it. You know, it's just really, really, really fun. Everybody who was there grabbed a different instrument than what they had been messing with before and made some sort of improvised sounds. And somehow, we ended up all on the same chord at the end. It was like, I don't know, C major chord or B flat major chord or something. Anyway, we all just, like, aligned perfectly on this glowing chord at the end. And the last one is 'On Gobbler's Knob,' Shirley Stevens.
[clip of song]
Edwin Everhart: It's kind of like a diary entry of being in Punxsutawney for a celebration of Groundhog Day in the early 2000s, maybe 20-odd years ago. We were just so pleased with this one, too, with the wonderful imagery, it takes you right into the cold night feeling. And also, it's a tip of the hat to the way that Groundhog Day is celebrated in the world that we do live in. So, I thought it would be a nice place to bring the album to an end.
Michael: Yeah, that's great. I appreciate all the insight into the album. I like the world that you've envisioned here. I wish that our world was a little bit more into celebrating Groundhog Day. What has been the reaction, since you released it? Do you have any idea, like, what kind of numbers you're doing? Have other people reached out to you about the album?
Edwin Everhart: I don't think there's been a huge amount of outreach, although I know that there were... at least a couple of songs were played on the radio in Pittsburgh.
Michael: Oh, wow.
Edwin Everhart: So, I don't know if I got like a lot of direct outreach, but there's been some play out there. And then also, I've had students in classes that I'm teaching will be like, 'Hey, we looked you up, and you have an album about Groundhog Day?' [laughs] It's like, okay, great. I mean, that's a fine thing to be known for. I have a coworker who gave me, like, a blanket with a bunch of groundhog images on it. It's very wonderful. It's just been nice to have that there. You know, we'll see where it goes coming up. The album was, like, kind of done on January 20th or so, so kind of short notice before Groundhog Day. So, I think I may print off a few more CDs and mail them to a few more radio stations at the start of January, and see where we go with that. Or, you know, maybe rerecord a couple of these with a slightly less crazy, wild, unbalanced party night vibe, a little bit higher quality recording might be in the cards. And of course, if anyone else wants to cover any of these, or do their own Groundhog Day music, that would be so wonderful. I was looking around for Groundhog Day songs to cover or to be inspired by in December and in January, and so many people do stuff that's just like, about the movie idea, right? The idea that a day repeats itself forever. And that's fine, I'm not mad about that, like, have fun with that. But that's the only thing! That was it! And it's just a one-off; it'll be like a one-off song by somebody and then a one-off song by some other totally unrelated person. So, you know, the stuff that's about the actual holiday seems quite hard to find, at least for me.
Michael: Yes. I agree, I agree. I've been saying for years that I think there should be more groundhog songs. I think there's real potential there. Like, if people would just record a whole album like you do, there's potential there of, you know, that being something that's played every year around the holiday. I envision a world where these are being played when we walk into a supermarket or into a department store, you know, the three months before Groundhog Day.
Edwin Everhart: Yes!
Michael: Or after Christmas! After Christmas, we go into the Groundhog music.
Edwin Everhart: Yeah, look, December 26th, I want to be hearing groundhog music in the toy store. Yeah, no. And then, you know, just doing this album also makes it clear that there's so many kinds of things you could turn into a song about Groundhog Day, or about the perspective of the groundhog, the perspective of us waiting for Groundhog Day, the season change itself, the thing we do to celebrate Groundhog Day, whether that's in this world or another world you would like it to be. But like, the Groundhog has an amazing perspective! I'm sleepy, don't wake me up! Or like, I can't wait to see what season it's going to be. The metaphors that are possible there are so rich, also.
Michael: And you also have the prognosticators who aren't groundhogs. So, you could be writing songs about, like, the chicken that's doing the prediction and, you know, their perspective. You know, am I as good as the groundhog? I mean, there's so much potential.
Edwin Everhart: Yeah! One verse about each prognosticator. It's a rich vein of stuff you could be doing.
Michael: I agree. There's not enough. There was this one couple who came out with, like, an album of groundhog folk songs, you know, maybe like 10, 15, 20 years ago or something like that. But like, besides that and yours, it's kind of like, yeah, maybe there's some one-offs. So, I'm glad you've created this, and I hope that awareness of it only grows over the years. I guess I should ask, did you have any real, like, connection to Groundhog Day before you started coming up with this idea? Had you ever been to Punxsutawney either for the holiday or just in general? Because you're not...
Edwin Everhart: I have been to Punxsutawney, but not for the holiday. But I mean, it was something that I had planned for a couple of times, but then fell through. You know, I'm sure the number of people who are thinking about going, but it doesn't actually pan out is like, it would add another 50 percent of attendance compared to actual people who turn out. I don't know, there's a certain extent to which if you're from western PA and you're living far away, like I was living in Los Angeles for a time, you think about groundhogs a little more.
Michael: Yeah, I've never been there for the ceremony. But we took a trip out there, like, maybe 10 years ago or so, and just looked around the town, and then I was just there for the Groundhog Picnic, which is a much smaller thing, but you know, the weather's actually nice and it's in the middle of the day.
Edwin Everhart: [laughs] Unimaginable!
Michael: So, I think that's the best I'm going to do. Getting up at 3:00 a.m. and standing in a crowd of 40,000 people in, like, who knows what kind of weather. I don't know that I'm up for that anymore. But going to the picnic was nice. I at least got to see Punxsutawney Phil.
Edwin Everhart: That's very wonderful. Well, I've seen Punxsutawney Phil in Pittsburgh; he comes through for parades and things sometimes. I've seen the honorable gentleman.
Michael: Yeah. So, Pittsburgh is famously where Phil Connors is from in the movie. So, what is it? Like, an hour and a half or something from Punxsutawney?
Edwin Everhart: I mean, maybe people who live in Punxsutawney are used to this drive and can make it in an hour and a half, but it was like two hours and 20 minutes.
Michael: Oh, wow.
Edwin Everhart: It's like, not major highways. It's not a fast highway; there are like eight different turns you're making, and not just at the end, like, all the way through to get there. So, I might be slightly exaggerating, but it is definitely a two-hour commitment, and it's not on a single road, and it's not on a very fast road. That's also, you know, depending on what time of year, if you're going in the fall, I'm sure it's a very gorgeous ride. You know, that can be nice, too. The foliage, the rolling hills.
Michael: What is your history with music in general? Do you play any instruments? Have you always been kind of musical?
Edwin Everhart: I have been doing different kinds of music for such a long time, and I'm very fortunate in that way. My parents met in a choir; we always had a lot of singing happening in the family. And then, I was lucky to have, you know, we had a piano around, and my parents signed me up for piano lessons. And then, when I was in elementary school, you could start doing an instrument, so I started doing clarinet, and I kept doing clarinet in different ways. And then eventually, I also decided that guitar was probably a lot easier than trying to carry around an electric piano for, like, accompanying yourself or accompanying other people. So, I got a friend to teach me the basics of guitar. And still, that's how much guitar I know. Like, I can play some chords, that's it. I'm not really good at it, but I can, like, you know, carry off the basics. So, yeah. And then being in some amateur music ensembles, both, you know, in high school, and then in more recent years, you know, we wanted to arrange our own stuff. So, you know, we have a song, and it's like somebody's like, 'Oh, I want to play this song in the band.' And it's like, all right, you know, if it's a brass band, it's the question of what's the tuba part going to be? What's the flute going to play? What's the tenor sax going to play versus the alto? So, you have to do the arranging too. So, by the time you've sat there doing the arranging and you bring that to the band and see if it works or not, that's like a whole training in music theory, too, composition. So, that's been my hobby that I do for a very long time.
Michael: Yeah, I mean, I think that's mainly what I have. I don't know, is there anything else you want to mention? I don't want to keep you all day.
Edwin Everhart: Oh no, that's okay! No, very wonderful to speak with you.
Michael: I appreciate you talking with me today, and I hope that it gets some more play this year. You know, maybe more stations will start playing it around the holiday.
Edwin Everhart: Thank you.
Michael: Bye!
Edwin Everhart: Okay, see you! Thank you again.
Michael: And that's the interview. Thanks to Edwin Everhart for speaking with me about On Groundhog Day. And here's some breaking news: Edwin reached out to me last week and let me know that he's released a new mini album called Here Comes the Groundhog. This album features four reworked songs from On Groundhog Day, as well as three new songs. All proceeds from the sales of this album until February 6th will be donated to the Community Bail Fund in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I've been saying for years that there should be more Groundhog Day-related music, and I'm very happy that Edwin put these two great albums together. You should definitely check them out. I'll include links to On Groundhog Day and 'Here Comes the Groundhog' in the show notes. Music for this show was written by the fabulous Breakmaster Cylinder. Show artwork is by Tom Mike Hill. Transcripts are provided by Aveline Malek. If you want to learn more about Groundhog Day, visit countdowntogroundhogday.com. Any feedback or voice messages about the show can be sent to podcast@countdowntogroundhogday.com. Talk to you next time!
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Transcribed by Aveline Malek.