| Celebrate the July 4th Independence Day holiday with Garrison Keillor and a few friends from his radio show. It should be a fun filled concert featuring poetry, songs, a few stories an audience sing a long and more. Join us for one of the 4 upcoming shows as we get back out on the road for the first time in over a year. We hope you can join us.
For these 4 shows, Garrison will be joined for a few classic duets with vocalist Prudence Johnson and backed by Bob Douglas, Adam Granger and music director Dan Chouinard.
June 29th Dinner & Stories and music with Garrison and friends from a riverboat in Stillwater, MN
June 30th Dinner & Stories and music with Garrison and friends from a riverboat in Stillwater, MN
July 2nd at 7:30 p.m. at Big Top Chautauqua in Bayfield, WI ***
July 4th at 4:00 p.m. at Summerfield Amphitheater in St. Michael, MN
Best-selling author and radio legend Garrison Keillor will be telling stories about his childhood, sharing wry observational comedy, and leading the audience in poetry and song. Garrison will be joined onstage by a few friends who appeared with him on A Prairie Home Companion.
JUST ANNOUNCED July 2nd (7:30P) will be available via LiveStream ($35 and $22) June 29th in Stillwater, MN >>>
June 30th in Stillwater, MN >>>
July 2nd in Bayfield, WI >>>
LIVESTREAM JULY 2 - 7:30P - For tickets >>>
July 4th in St. Michael, MN >>> ****************************************************************************************************************
LISTEN TO GARRISON'S MOST RECENT INTERVIEW WITH JEARLYN STEELE WHERE HE TALKS ABOUT PANDEMIC LIFE, HIS NEW BOOK PROJECT AND THESE UPCOMING PERFORMANCES. To Listen >>> |
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Me and the guy who once met the Dalai Lama Follow the link to Substack for this week's column. Go to Garrison Keillor and Friends on Substack
for THE COLUMN >>> |
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 This Back Room has launched! It is a paid subscription section of the Garrison Keillor and Friends on Substack featuring closer interractions with Garrison himself plus many other extras. So, if you wish to receive the Back Room newsletter along with access to the paid area on substack featuring unpublished writing (monologues, sonnets, limericks, essays), or chapters from his new book, or concepts for a new idea. You may even have a question or two thrown at you. We are sure this will evolve after it gets going, but it's time to get our feet wet. If you haven't subscribed for a small monthly fee you may want to consider hopping on board and getting a peek at long-lost items and/or works in progress. (Reminder: you can subscribe for free to receive the Post to the Hosts and the columns, but the paid version gets you into The Back Room).
This past weekend, we sent out "Tomato Butt," "Trap Shooting," and "Me and My Dad." If you decide to join, you will have access to everything posted in The Back Room on the homepage. Go to Garrison Keillor and Friends on Substack
for a paid subscription >>> |
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This week on A Prairie Home Companion This week’s classic A Prairie Home Companion show comes to you from Marymoor Park in Redmond, Washington, as we travel back to 2004 with special guests including singer-songwriter Kelly Joe Phelps, mandolin master Peter Ostroushko, plus The Hopeful Gospel Quartet. Also with us, the Royal Academy of Radio Actors (Tim Russell, Sue Scott, and Fred Newman), and The Guy’s All-Star Shoe Band.
Highlights include a few thoughts about the area, “Green Summertime” and “Falling in Love” by The Hopeful Gospel Quartet, “Three Crows” and “Choro” from Peter Ostroushko and the band, “Window Grin” and “Tommy’ from Kelly Joe Phelps, plus “Summer in Lake Wobegon,” The Lives of the Cowboys, the latest caper featuring Guy Noir, some Catchup and SFX and the latest news from Lake Wobegon. The link is posted on Saturdays at 5 p.m. CT each week on our Facebook page. Listen to the Show >>>Like our Facebook page >>>
More about this week’s guests
For every show, we will start on Tuesday of each week to promote Saturday’s classic broadcast. But as a primer, we will publish links to teasers, bios, and videos of the week’s musical guests to whet your appetite to tune in for the show. And who knows, we may even pop in for some live commentary and profiles via the Facebook page.
Mandolinist, composer, arranger Peter Ostroushko, who made his first Prairie Home Companion appearance in 1974, grew up listening to tunes played at family get-togethers in the Ukrainian community of northeast Minneapolis. It’s the music that provides the basis for many of his compositions — works that have been performed by the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and the Kremlin Chamber Orchestra, among others. Peter won an Emmy for the score of Minnesota: A History of the Land (Twin Cities Public Television). “Teelin Bay Waltz” >>>View available music >>>
Oregon-based singer-songwriter and guitarist Kelly Joe Phelps made his recording debut in 1994 with Lead Me On. A dozen other albums followed, including Roll Away the Blues. He went on to tour the United States, Canada, Scandinavia, and Australia. Says Phelps: “My music is a reflection of all the music I loved and steeped myself in. There’s a space and openness in rural music that makes sense to me.”
“Hard Times They Never Go Away” >>>View available music >>>
The Hopeful Gospel Quartet was formed when four friends discovered their shared interest in gospel music; they were standing around backstage, waiting for one of the Prairie Home Companion shows to begin, and one of them began to sing. The others joined in, and — fast-forward — the Hopeful Gospel Quartet, or the Hopefuls, toured with Chet Atkins and performed at Carnegie Hall, Radio City Music Hall, The Universal Amphitheatre, and at The Great Prairie Home Hymn-Sing Festival in Moorhead, Minnesota. The Hopefuls released two albums: Garrison Keillor & the Hopeful Gospel Quartet and Climbing Up on the Rough Side. The members of the Hopeful Gospel Quartet for this show are Mollie O’Brien, Garrison Keillor, and Robin and Linda Williams.
“Amazing Grace” with Garrison >>>Purchase "Climbing Up on the Rough Side" >>> History of Hopeful Gospel Quartet >>> More from Peter Ostroushko
Given Peter Ostroushko’s quiet and unassuming manner, his musical genius and remarkable range may have come as a surprise to those unfamiliar with his extraordinary talent. No surprise to his friends and collaborators and legions of fans. He could do it all — from old-time and bluegrass tunes to blues to Brazilian choros to jazz standards to his own compositions and more. And you’d be hard-pressed to think of anyone who played with more heart.
When you lose a member of their family, you can be at a loss for words. After Peter passed away earlier this year, the staff decided to create a webpage as a tribute — pictures from the show plus a few memories and of course the music. What better way to pay tribute to this master than to present a wide array of his musical performances from the archives. Enjoy the webpage and please listen to the deep dive into the archive. This compilation is a tip of the iceberg demonstrating the musical genius that is Peter Ostroushko. Visit the Tribute page >>>Listen to the compilation >>>
Before his passing, Peter created a 10-part podcast called My Life and Time as a Radio Musician, which traces his musical appearances and memories of performing on A Prairie Home Companion. Peter had access to all the musical performances and shows he appeared on going back to 1974. If you are a fan of the music on the show, it’s quite a treat! Listen to the podcast >>>
Summer in Lake Wobegon
This week’s featured show includes the song “Summer in Lake Wobegon.” Oftentimes, when Garrison writes a humorous tune or changes the lyrics to a known song to be about a specific city or event, we get emails requesting the words. Here are the lyrics to one of those tunes:
It’s summer in Lake Wobegon,
The last week of June.
Everything’s about the same,
And how are things with you?
This summer is looking pretty good
Though it’s been wet.
The kids have been home two weeks now
Not getting on my nerves yet.
The corn is getting taller
But it needs sun.
Everyone’s out in their garden
There’s yardwork to be done.
Kids going to Bible camp,
Their first big trip away.
The bartender’s wife left him
For a janitor, they say.
I bought a watermelon today
And some strawberries.
Detergent was at half price,
Macaroni and cheese.
I’ll boil the berries with sugar,
Mash them in the pan,
Put ’em in a jar and screw on the lid,
And put ’em in the freezer for jam.
The air smells of green grass
Thanks to the rain we’ve had.
Not so many mosquitoes
The June bugs aren’t so bad.
Standing in the backyard
Having a cold beer
A bratwurst with mustard and sauerkraut
Sure be nice if you were here.
The sounds of the night crickets
The sky is full of stars.
Cars drive by with the radios on,
People talk in their backyards.
It’s summer in Lake Wobegon,
The last week of June.
Everything’s about the same,
And how are things with you?
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That Time of Year: A Minnesota Life
Since the Hopeful Gospel Quartet was featured on last week's classic show and Robin & Linda Williams will be featured on this Saturday evening's show, it's only fitting that we look to 'That Time of Year' to discover some history. . . so here is a short passage from the chapter Coast to Coast (along with a pic from the book):
Robin and Linda Williams were regular houseguests and Kate MacKenzie came over one day and we formed the Hopeful Gospel Quartet. We sat in the garden behind the board fence and sang, Come thou fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing thy praise, and Sheep, sheep, don't you know the road----yes, Lord, I know the road and when Jean Redpath heard us in the yard, she came down to join us, her Scots soprano filling out, You're drifting too far from the shore and He may not come when you want Him but He's right on time. I sang bass. Finally, I was a member of a band, a big jump in status from hostship. Gospel music as unknown on public radio, except in a documentary about the civil rights movement or an Aaron Copland arrangement, but I'd grown up with it and loved the sonorities: the descending bass part on "Now the Day Is Over," singing, Shadows of the evening steal across the sky. We sang "Softly and Tenderly Jesus Is Calling: and sensed that, for most of our audience, songs of repentance were not what they'd come to hear, but what the hell, a little guilt never hurt anybody. And our "Calling My Children Home" actually made people cry, especially parents of teenagers: I'm lonesome for my precious children, they live so far away. Oh may they hear my calling---calling---and come back home someday. We did a couple of national tours and even played Carnegie Hall, and we sang my dad's favorite poem, Twilight and evening bell, and after that the dark! And may there be no sadness of farewell when I embark.
Get the Book >>>Get the CDs >>> |
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Liberty: A Lake Wobegon Novel |
Independence Day is fast approaching. And Garrison Keillor’s Liberty is set during a spectacular Fourth of July celebration amid marching bands and circus wagons drawn by teams of Percherons. The Chairman of the Fourth, Clint Bunsen, is in the midst of an identity crisis brought on by a DNA test just as he turns sixty, and he finds solace in the arms of Angelica Pflame, the young beauty who marched as Liberty in last year’s parade. Should he remain in Lake Wobegon with his stoic wife, Irene, or fly off with Angelica?
Here, an excerpt from Chapter 1:
Last year’s Lake Wobegon Fourth of July (Delivery Day) was glory itself, sunny and not too hot, flags flying, drummers drumming, scores of high-stepping horses, smart marching units in perfect cadence, and Ben Franklin, Sacajawea, Ulysses S. Grant, Babe Ruth, Amelia Earhart, and Elvis marching arm in arm along with Miss Liberty majestic in seven-pointed crown and wielding her torch like a big fat baton, plus the Leaping Lutherans parachute team, the Betsy Ross Blanket Toss, a battery of cannons belching flame boomboomboom from the crest of Adams Hill and Paul Revere galloping into town to cry out the news that these States are now Independent, God Bless Us All, and Much Much More, all in all a beautiful occasion in honor of America, and the only sour note was that so few in Lake Wobegon appreciated how truly glorious it all was, since Wobegonians as a rule consider it bad luck to be joyful, no matter what Scripture might say on the subject, and so in the swirl of color and music and costumes and grandeur you could hear people complain about the high cost of gasoline and shortage of rainfall and what in God’s Name were they going to do with the leftover food. It was all eaten, that’s what was done. More than seventeen thousand people attended and downed 800 pounds of frankfurters, 1800 of ground beef, a half-ton of deep-fried cheese curds, 500 gallons of potato salad, a tanker-truckload of Wendy’s beer, but the next day the talk in the Chatterbox Cafe was not about exultation and the wonders of the great day, no, it was about the bright lipstick someone smeared on the stone face of the statue of the Unknown Norwegian and the word RATS! painted on walls and sidewalks and the innerspring mattress dumped on the lawn of Mr. and Mrs. Bakke, the work of persons unknown. People grumped about vandals and what made them do the bad things they do (lack of parental discipline, short attention spans) and maybe it’s time to rethink the Fourth of July and pull in our sails a little and not give bad apples an arena for their shenanigans. Continue reading >>>
Watch Garrison introduce the book >>>
Get the paperback book >>>
Get the audio book >>> |
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