Counting the Stars from 2013

Thanks to everyone who joined us in Galveston and Austin in-person or via the livestream. It truly was an epic show featuring some Texas tunes, some lovely duets with Heather Masse and Christine DiGiallonardo, a visit from Mom, Guy Noir and The Lives of the Cowboys, some coffee and biscuits and some Texas swing from Hot Club of Cowtown. A great couple of days . . . now, let’s do it again!

The next stops on the 50th Anniversary Tour will have the troupe traveling the Carolinas in late March with full A Prairie Home Companion shows in Willmington, NC and Greenville, SC plus a few solo shows along the way.

VIEW TOUR & TICKET INFORMATION

Listen to the March 2, 2013 show

This week, we revisit a classic broadcast of A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor that was performed at the Fitzgerald Theater. With special guests, Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell, vocalist Heather Masse and pianist Jed Wilson, and singing sisters Jearlyn and Jevetta Steele. Plus, the Royal Academy of Radio Actors, Sue Scott, Time Russell and Fred Newman; an extra-wide Shoe Band with Michael B. Nelson, Kenni Holmen, and Steve Strand on brass and Joe Savage on steel guitar; and the latest News from Lake Wobegon.

Highlights include talk of a snowstorm and a visit to the dentist followed up by a sunshine medley, ‘This is Another Day’ from Jearlyn and Jevetta Steele, ‘When I Was a Cowboy’ from Heather Masse and Jed Wilson, ‘She Drives Too Fast’ from Pat Donohue and the band plus ‘Out on the Prairie’ from Garrison and five glorious tunes from Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell plus Guy Noir, Snowman, Coffee and the latest News. Listen to the show.

When Emmylou Harris was a kid, she wrote a letter to Pete Seeger, concerned that if she was living a sheltered life at her parents' house and hadn't suffered enough, she couldn't be a folksinger. Pete wrote back, saying: "Don't worry. Life will catch up with you. You'll suffer. Don't go hop a freight." It worked out. With dozens of acclaimed recordings and countless awards, including 12 Grammys, Emmylou maintains a widespread and loyal following, whether she's singing folk, country, pop, or traditional tunes

Emmylou Harris first heard Rodney Crowell almost 40 years ago, and his song "Bluebird Wine" became the opening track of her 1975 album, Pieces of the Sky. Rodney went on to play guitar in Emmylou's legendary Hot Band. Separately, the two have dozens of acclaimed recordings and countless awards. And now these Grammy-winning artists - and longtime pals - have teamed up again with the album Old Yellow Moon.

Growing up in Indiana, Jearlyn and Jevetta Steele sang with their siblings as The Steele Children. One by one, they moved to Minnesota and started singing together again. Now music is the family business. Jevetta's performance of "Calling You," from the film Baghdad Cafe, was nominated for an Academy Award.

Here are the lyrics to the song ‘Out on the Prairie’ from this week’s show:

Out on the prairie so wide
The school buses wending their way
From the towns they travel
For miles on the gravel
An hour before it is day.
And the winter wind blows
Cross the corn stubble rows
Where the dirt has turned the snow gray.

And the children walk down to the road
From the farmhouses' warm kitchen glow,
Stand waiting and yearning
To see the bus turning
And the sweep of the headlights' glow.
And they climb up inside
And away they all ride
Past the farms and the fields full of snow.

And they think about math as they go
And the chemistry of atmosphere
And unequal equations
And French conjugations
And the sonnets of William Shakespeare
And then up the drive
At the school they arrive
On the darkest day of the year.

And in due course they will fly
Away, young women and men
With mixed emotions
Cross mountains and oceans
And become what we could not have been.
We will tenderly kiss them
Goodbye and miss them
And never will see them again.

If you want to hear the Cherry Picker story that Ray mentioned above — along with many other great Lake Wobegon stories — you can find it on the A Prairie Home Companion 20th Anniversary Collection.

CLICK HERE to buy the CDs or download today!

Brighten somebody’s day with these Cheerfulness notecards, based on Garrison Keillor’s book by the same name. This set features eight notecards each with a different colorful photo and quote from the book.

CLICK HERE to buy!