A Livestream & our first show!

July 6, 1974 from the Janet Wallace Auditorium

LIVESTREAM EVENT: July 13, 2024

Join us to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of A Prairie Home Companion from the comfort of your living room. We have partnered with Nugs.net to make available one of the three sold-out shows from our home at the Fitzgerald Theater. Garrison last performed at the Fitzgerald in February 2016, so the return has been long awaited and should lead to some really special moments! Join us for the LIVESTREAM on July 13th at 7:30 p.m. CT. (Set up your Nugs account now for the LIVESTREAM and plan a listening or watch party with your friends.

Watch as many times as you like during the 48-hour window (July 13–15). If you aren’t available to watch during that window, you can purchase anytime before July 15 and be able to watch ONE time outside the window.

Listen to the first broadcast of A Prairie Home Companion

A Prairie Home Companion’s first broadcast, from the Janet Wallace Fine Arts Center on the campus of Macalester College. Special guests: Bill Hinkley and Judy Larson, Vern Sutton, Philip Brunelle, Bob DeHaven, Ernie Garven, and the Brescian String Quartet. Listen to the July 6, 1974, show.

From the Library of Congress website:

“Well, it’s been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon, Minnesota, my hometown, out on the edge of the prairie.” On July 6, 1974, before a crowd of maybe a dozen people (certainly fewer than 20), a live radio variety program went on the air from the campus of Macalester College in St. Paul, MN. It was called “A Prairie Home Companion,” a name that at once evoked a sense of place and a time now past — recalling the “Little House on the Prairie” books, the once-popular magazine “The Ladies Home Companion,” or “The Prairie Farmer,” the oldest agricultural publication in America (founded 1841). The “Prairie Farmer” later bought WLS radio in Chicago from Sears, Roebuck & Co. and gave its name to the powerful clear-channel station, which blanketed the middle third of the country from 1928 until its sale in 1959. The creator and host of the program, Garrison Keillor, later confided that he had no nostalgic intent, but took the name from “The Prairie Home Cemetery” in Moorhead, MN. His explanation is both self-effacing and humorous, much like the program he went on to host, with some sabbaticals and detours, for the next 42 years. Read more history about the first show as the first broadcast is remembered in the Library of Congress.

About our guests:

Philip Brunelle is an internationally renowned conductor, choral scholar, and performer. He is also the founder and artistic director of Minneapolis-based VocalEssence, one of America’s premier choral arts organizations. His many awards include the Royal Order of the Polar Star from the King of Sweden and Commander of the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit. In July of 1974, Philip appeared on the very first live broadcast of A Prairie Home Companion.

Garrison first heard Bill Hinkley and Judy Larson playing in the lobby of a south Minneapolis theater in 1972, and the two appeared on the first broadcast of A Prairie Home Companion. Bill passed away in 2010. Friends used to swear that there wasn’t a song — any style, any period — that he didn’t know. And anyone who heard Bill and Judy, as a duo or with the Sorry Muthas, found Judy’s vocals and guitar accompaniment truly irresistible. In 2000, Bill and Judy received a lifetime achievement award from the Minnesota Bluegrass and Old-Time Music Association.

Vern Sutton has collaborated with major musical organizations as a singer, actor, director, and educator. He was a founding member of the Center Opera Company, which became the Minnesota Opera, and composers Dominick Argento, Robert Ward, Conrad Susa, Libby Larsen, and others have written for his voice. For 36 years, he taught at the University of Minnesota School of Music, and for four summers he was artistic director of Opera in the Ozarks. Vern was a guest on the very first broadcast of A Prairie Home Companion.

More audio and information about the first show:

First Prairie Home show recalled:

Listen to memories and stories firsthand from those that were in the audience or performed on the first show, plus how the show was created and shaped. Listen

A Prairie Home Album:

Listen to some more rare material from 1974 from the first compilation A Prairie Home Album, featuring cuts from the first broadcast season. Listen

Photos through the years:

A look back at the old show via a stream of photos. Watch

From Bill Kling:

A Sonnet for the show:

40TH

I never wanted to be known for longevity.

Au contraire. I aimed for brevity.

A short brilliant tragically interrupted career

But instead it has gone on for forty years.

I wanted to be brief, dear heart,

Like Buddy Holly or Amelia Earhart,

A shooting star, a beautiful flash,

But my plane did not crash.

Which happens when you're having fun.

You are surprised to see the sun

Coming up in the east and everyone

Is gone and you've just begun.

Forty years. How did it start?

What do you remember?

I remember nothing. See you in September.

50th Anniversary Merchandise:

Don’t forget to visit our store for new 50th Anniversary shirts, hats, and mugs, plus an assortment of other items, including recordings and downloads from the early seasons. These are recordings you are sure to treasure and listen to again and again. Visit the store.

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P.O. Box 2090, Minneapolis, MN 55402
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