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Wynken, Blynken and Nod A singing trio in Chicago in the 1920s, NPR's Kathy Schalch recently discovered her grandmother Gay was Wynken and her Aunt Lu was Blynken to a series of Nods.

Lost & Found Sound

Wynken, Blynken and Nod

Lost and Found Sound: Grandmother's Singing Trio

Heard on All Things Considered

Wynken, Blynken and Nod

Audio will be available later today.

Gay and Lu Matthews, 1929. John Krizek hide caption

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John Krizek

As a child, NPR's Kathy Schalch knew her grandmother loved to sing. But she didn't know that her grandmother and her grandmother's sister were the anchors of a singing trio called Wynken, Blynken and Nod. They were heard on radio stations WGN and WBBM in the 1920s and 30s. Chicago voted them the most popular singing group.

Kathy's grandmother Gay never talked about this exciting part of her life. She gave it all up when she married and had children. And so did her Aunt Lu. But Kathy uncovered their secret and explores their careers in this edition of Lost and Found Sound.

Michael Kieffer of the Origin Jazz Library, Producer/Audio Restoration/Audio Archivist transferred the Jean Goldkette 78 rpm record heard in this piece.

Thank you to the following people who did much of the research necessary to make this piece possible: Suzie Froberg, Greta Mill Heslet, John Krizek, Sarah Lenoue, Suzanne Schalch.