Revisit a classic from 2006
This week, we travel back to 2006 and revisit a show from the Ted Mann Concert Hall at the University of Minnesota, with special guests Janine Brémault, Robin & Linda Williams and the Hopeful Gospel Quartet, University of Minnesota alumnus Butch Thompson, Andy Stein sitting in with the Guy’s All-Star Shoe Band, and the Royal Academy of Radio Acting. There’s News From Lake Wobegon and other highlights, including “The College Blues,” “University Stomp,” a Lutheran script, talk about ice, plus a visit from Guy Noir. Join us Saturday at 5 p.m. via our Facebook page or via the link below
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More about this week’s featured guests:
As the Hopeful Gospel Quartet (Garrison Keillor, Robin and Linda Williams, and Carol Elizabeth Jones) explains it, the group “began its career backstage at Prairie Home shows, when we stood waiting for the balloon to go up and sang to pass the time and found out that we all like gospel songs and that they sound wonderful in a stairwell.” Now, countless gigs (and a couple of personnel changes) later, they are still finding great four-part harmonies in stairwells and on stages across the country.
Singing the music they love — be it bluegrass, folk, old-time, or acoustic country — Robin and Linda Williams have carved out a decades-long career that has taken them from Carnegie Hall to the Hollywood Bowl. They’ve have written dozens of terrific songs, ones that have been covered by the likes of Emmylou Harris, Tom T. Hall, Tim & Mollie O’Brien, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Kathy Mattea, and The Seldom Scene.
Carol Elizabeth Jones hails from the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. She has made her mark as a singer of traditional mountain music and as a writer of new songs in the old tradition. Listen to “The Lord Will Make a Way Somehow >>>
Some “Hopeful” history >>> For 12 years of his four-decade career, Butch Thompson was the house pianist on A Prairie Home Companion, dating back to the show’s second broadcast in July 1974. As a soloist, he earned a worldwide reputation as a master of ragtime, stride, and classic jazz piano. Described by Jazz Journal International as “the premier player in traditional jazz today,” Thompson also performed with his well-known trio, his eight-piece New Orleans Jazz Originals, and with symphony orchestras, including the Hartford Symphony, the St. Louis Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, and the Cairo (Egypt) Symphony. Listen to “Nobody’s Sweetheart Now” >>>
Visit our Tribute Page for Butch >>>
Violinist and saxophonist Andy Stein collaborated with Garrison Keillor to create the opera Mr. and Mrs. Olson. He has appeared on Saturday Night Live and Late Night with David Letterman, and has performed with artists such as Itzhak Perlman, Eric Clapton, Smashing Pumpkins, Billy Joel, Tony Bennett, Ray Charles, and Bob Dylan.
Listen to “Riverboat Shuffle” >>> Here are the lyrics to Beethoven’s “Ode to Not So Bad,” which is featured in this week’s classic show:
How are you? I’m not so bad. And you? About the same, I guess.
Pretty good. You look okay. Well, thanks. That’s not that bad a dress.
Really? Do you like this dress? Of course. It looks okay on you.
Like your suit. You like this suit? I do. You do? I sort of do.
How is school? It could be worse. And how’s your show? Oh, well, you know.
It’s a show. It’s not that bad. Uh-huh. You listen? Not really. No.
How was Christmas? Not that bad. You liked it? Sure. Of course, why not.
And your New Year’s? It was good. You stayed up late? Sure. Somewhat.
How’s your husband? He’s not bad. Your wife? She’s fine. I guess. Okay.
How’s your parents? They’re both fine. And yours? My parents passed away.
Did they really? Yes, we think so. Though it was hard to tell at first.
How do they like death? They say, it’s not that bad. It could be worse.
DUET: If you’re like us, then you are taught to keep your expectations low. If you don’t expect a thing, then nothing’s not that bad, you know. | 
