Prairie Home's 2011 broadcast feature with Old Crow Medicine Show, Joel Mabus and Andra Suchy

Kindness: you'll look and you'll see it

I’ve been a rhymer ever since I was twelve and read the limerick about the young girl of Madras who had a remarkable ass and so when I read about a trans legislator in Kansas, it started my engine, but she turns out to be a nice woman named Stephanie Byers (choirs, lyres) who is only advocating kindness for her kind, no big deal in my book, and I looked up the girl from Madras. It’s one of the only limericks that accuses the reader of unseemly thoughts — her ass is “not soft, round, and pink as you probably think, but the kind with long ears that eats grass,” and I loved this as a kid, having grown up evangelical and knowing something about righteous fever...

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This week on A Prairie Home Companion

This week, we travel back to 2011 for a show from a palatial 1928 movie house: the Fox Theatre in Detroit, Michigan. With special guests, fiery old-time string band Old Crow Medicine Show, multi-instrumentalist Joel Mabus, and singer Andra Suchy. Also with us, the Royal Academy of Radio Acting (Tim Russell, Sue Scott, and Fred Newman), and the Guy’s All-Star Shoe Band.
Highlights include “Detroit City” (a Garrison/Andra duet) and as well as a lot of talk about the Motor City and Fords, “The Lights are on in Michigan” by Joel Mabus, Pat Donohue and the Shoe Band with “The Terraplane Blues,” and some great bluegrass from Old Crow Medicine Show as they perform “Mississippi Saturday Night” and “Ain’t It Enough.” Plus Guy Noir, Ruth Harrison, Rhubarb, an appearance from Mom, and the News from Lake Wobegon. The link is posted on Saturdays at 5 p.m. CT each week on our Facebook page.

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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.
With a little luck and a whole lot of talent, Old Crow Medicine Show went from playing their slash-and-burn brand of old-time music on the streets of Boone, North Carolina, to bringing down the house at the Grand Ole Opry. Now based in Nashville, the band has wowed audiences coast to coast with their distinctive take on pre-World War II blues, rags, hollers, fiddle tunes and jug band numbers. The lineup for this show: Willie Watson (guitar), Ketch Secor (fiddle), Gill Landry (banjo, guitar), Kevin Hayes (guitjo), Cory Younts (mandolin), and Morgan Jahnig (bass). Old Crow’s latest recordings include the 2022 release Paint This Town.”

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While singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Joel Mabus was growing up in Belleville, Illinois, his school pals were grooving to the Beach Boys; he was drawn to the Carter Family, Bill Monroe, and Jimmie Rodgers. Something in his lineage perhaps: His great-grandfather was a farmhouse fiddler, and during the Great Depression, his parents took their old-time music on the road throughout the Midwest. Now based in Michigan, Joel has spent the last four-plus decades keeping up the family tradition — playing clubs and festivals across North America.

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Other Updates:
Long before Darius Rucker had a hit with “Wagon Wheel,” fans of A Prairie Home Companion instantly recognized the tune. Ketch Secor and the Old Crow gang sang the song on APHC on a few occasions, including during the show’s 40th Anniversary Festival and on the cinecast, where Prairie Home was beamed into 500-plus theaters across the country. “Wagon Wheel” was initially a chorus that Bob Dylan wrote, and Ketch somehow found it and took it upon himself to finish the song. The result was this incredibly catchy tune. Years later, Dylan heard the song and must have been impressed since he sent another unfinished tune for Ketch to finish, and the resulting tune popped up on APHC as “Sweet Amarillo.” Below, you can enjoy the original music video for “Wagon Wheel” along with the APHC performance of “Sweet Amarillo” from our 40th Festival.

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Thanks for the memories

A special thanks to everyone who showed up in Denver for the A Prairie Home Companion American Revival show. We know it was somewhat disappointing that due to the inclement weather the show was forced to move to the beautiful Buell Theatre. Everyone was dry and safe and sat for an incredible performance from Garrison and company. In the coming weeks, we do hope to share bits and pieces with all of you, so stay tuned for a few scripts and maybe a song or two from this memorable evening. CBS Sunday Morning filmed parts of the show, so keep an eye out for a few brief clips along with a longer interview with Garrison.
Of note:
We note the passing of Naomi Judd. The Judds appeared on A Prairie Home Companion in the early 1980s as they were experiencing one of the most amazing debuts for a musical duo, including 14 chart-topping country tunes. We send our deepest condolences to her family and to everyone who was touched by the Judds’ music.
Brad Paisley, who appeared on the Buell Theatre (relocated Red Rocks) show, has announced a world tour. Dates and information can be found on his website. Thanks, Brad, for sharing your music with APHC!
Ann Wilson and Vince Gill, who have both appeared on the show over its many years on the air, debuted a new collaboration, which is featured on Ann’s new album, Fierce Bliss. “Love of my Life” is a stunning remake of a Freddy Mercury-written Queen ballad.

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Described by The Saturday Evening Post as “a 90-page self-­published masterwork about the inexorable decrepitude that accompanies old age — but, more importantly, also the manifold pleasures that accrue as you arrive there,” Serenity at 70, Gaiety at 80 is a playful yet deeply felt meditation that ought to be a standard in the literature of human aging. Asked how she’d characterize the work, Kate Gustafson (who heads up Keillor’s production company) paused for a while and then ventured this brief summation: “It’s a novelty book, a gift book.” No, no, Keillor corrected, it’s actually “a memoir with an essay wrapped around it.” Whatever, Serenity at 70 is a must-have humorous take on getting older, complete with rules for aging.

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