Toadstool Shadow & the Case of the Missing Potato

Toadstool Shadow is a country-folk music trio from Toadstool Junction, Ohio. They are three cousins who grew up working at their Grandpa Toadstool’s roadside produce stand. They sold mushrooms in the spring, ginseng in the summer, pumpkins in the fall, and Christmas trees in winter. That is where they first sang together.

On stage, Toadstool Shadow mixes music and humor in a fully family-friendly fashion. Indeed, their songs are a seamless synthesis of the serious, the silly, and the surreal. But, at the BorderLight Festival this year, they need your help!

See, the unfortunate fact is that Toadstool Shadow lost their potato. It’s their very favorite potato. They just have to find it!

So, at the end of every few songs, a clue as to the potato’s location will be revealed. By the end of the 45-minute show, hopefully, an astute audience member will be able to put the clues together and find the lost potato.

If Toadstool Shadow is lucky, and the audience is clever enough, the lost potato will be found, everyone will be entertained, and order will be restored to the universe.

Toadstool Shadow is inspired by an earlier age of American musical entertainment. In the bygone era of vaudeville and early radio & TV shows, country and folk musicians easily mixed music and humor. Between songs, all manner of jokes and goofy gags kept the audience entertained.

Toadstool Shadow's live performances mix original songs with corny jokes and a couple old classics like "Home on the Range." Some of their songs turn popular proverbs on their heads, proving that there is an exception to every rule, like “The Apple Who Fell Far From the Tree,” “The Old Dog Who Learned a New Trick,” and “Couldn’t Lead that Horse to Water (But I Sure Could Make Him Drink).” Other songs treat the tragic side of life in a comic fashion, like “Tiny the Frog,” about a friendly fly’s encounter with a hungry frog, and “Who Wants the Cheese?,” about a house mouse named Hans and his unfortunate fondness for cheese. Other songs showcase a love for Brothers Grimm fairy tale characters, like “Mermaid Shantey,” “Leprechaun Man,” and “When Faeries Sprout Wings.”

Their stage set typically includes props like the Toadstool Telephone, which rings between songs; the Toadstool Clock, part of a running gag titled "What Time Is It, Cousin Margaret?;" and Ohio’s Tallest Toadstool. And they often tell tales of growing up in the tiny village of Toadstool Junction, statistically the foggiest village in the State of Ohio.

Musically and stylistically, Toadstool Shadow aims for a marriage of the old "Hee Haw" TV show and the Beatles "Yellow Submarine." On stage, they dress as cowgirls and cowboys.

Toadstool Shadow features the world-class sunshine sweet harmony vocals of Cousin Ellie DeGarmo and Cousin Margaret Colligan, accompanied by Cousin Chris Till on guitar. Cousin Margaret also plays melodica, while Cousin Ellie also plays kazoo and various obscure percussion instruments. Cousin Chris's guitar playing echoes the minimalist style of Luther Perkins of Johnny Cash's original Tennessee Two band. If the audience is particularly lively, Cousin Margaret might even break into dance!

Since 2023, Toadstool Shadow has performed at numerous Ohio festivals, including the Lancaster Festival, Columbus Comfest, and Midwest Psych Fest, as well as historic theaters like the Paxton Theater in Bainbridge, the Majestic Theater in Chillicothe, and Wagnalls Memorial Theater in Lithopolis. This year, they were nominated for a Luney Award for Best Animated Music Video.