Dezurik Sisters: The Arizona Yodeler

Plus a special ladies in polka edition of Polka Time with DJ Shotski

Mar 01, 2024

Back in February 2022, I got a message from an Instagram follower (ayo Erin!) who gave me the heads up that the St. Vinny’s on Williamson Street had some polka records. It’s magic when people send me a hot tip on where to score cheap polka.

It was an unseasonably warm day, so I set off on foot to walk the mile across the Isthmus to check it out. I flipped through the LPs and found a few I liked. I was feeling lucky, so I opened the deep drawers that held messy stacks of mostly uncovered 45s. Found a few more to take home. Satisfied by the dig, I was ready to check out and go home.

For some reason, I stopped to look at the wide box sets. I usually pass up box sets, but like I said, I was feeling lucky.

There on the shelf was the speckled, brown cover of a Time Life Country and Western collection I had been looking for for a couple of years.

Let me explain. First, Time Life box sets tend to be low-value collections. You can grab a set off Ebay for ten or fifteen bucks. I rarely buy off the internet. It’s just too vast. You can get anything and everything you want. That’s why I set limits so I don’t spiral into bankruptcy feeding my vinyl addiction.

My policy: only buy records you dig for in the wild.

And that day, I found The Women.

It was on my list because one of the songs on the box set was “The Arizona Yodeler” by the Dezurik Sisters. I first heard the song some where near the start of the COVID crisis when it was the background song of an Instagram post of a woman who was gracefully roller skating. I was instantly captivated,. The song wen on my playlists and was a delight to hear on road trips to all the outdoors adventure we had in 2020.

I looked and looked online and it was hard to find a recording of the song on vinyl. Everything I found by the Dezurik Sisters was out of my thrifty budget. I knew it was on the Time Life collection, and I was convinced I would find it if I kept my eyes open.

And there it was at the St. Vinny’s on Willy St.

When I brought it home, I took a video explaining why I was excited to find it, and the joy of hearing the song off of a spinning platter instead of through a Spotify playlist on my phone. I swear it is a total coincidence that I’m wearing the exact same hat in this week’s album of the week video.

I guess the lesson is, if you haven’t found what you’re looking for, take a walk on an unseasonably warm day. You’ll find it.

Listen to this week’s episode of Polka Time with DJ Shotski to hear “The Arizona Yodeler” by the Dezurik Sisters plus a whole hour spotlighting women in polka. The show will air LIVE on 98.7 FM WVMO on Sunday, March 3. Tune in on your terrestrial dial in Monona or on Madison’s east side. The show will rebroadcast on participating stations the following weekend.

All stations stream on the web at the links below. All times CST.