The Odyssey from 2002

Look ahead and mark your calendar for one of a new batch of Garrison Keillor Tonight! live shows — humor, poetry, storytelling, sing-alongs, and lots more. It’ll be the perfect way to kick off 2025.

Ticket information for ALL upcoming shows

Listen to the November 9, 2002, show

This week’s classic show revisits a Live performance from 2002, with hard-charging blues singer Delbert McClinton, vocalist Lynn Peterson, and Dave Moore sitting in with the Shoe Band.

Highlights include Garrison’s duets with Lynn on “I Can’t Help it if I’m Still in Love with You” and with Delbert McClinton on “I Just Left Myself.” Plus Pat Donohue kicks things up a bit with “Joanna,” Dave Moore adds some flavor to “Down to the River,” and Delbert solos on a few songs, including “Some Kind of Crazy” and “New York City.” We hear from Guy Noir, there’s a full-cast, a five-minute version of The Odyssey, and we catch up on the latest News from Lake Wobegon. What a show to take your mind off current events. Listen to the show.

About our featured guest performers:

Born in Lubbock, Texas, in 1940, a musician and performer for forty years, DELBERT MCCLINTON has a vast musical history. With his band, McClinton makes music that combines the sounds of blues, rock ’n’ roll, honky-tonk, country, and R&B. In 1992, McClinton won a Grammy for his duet with Bonnie Raitt, “Good Man/Good Woman,” and his 1989 album, Live from Austin (Alligator), was nominated for a Grammy for Best Contemporary Blues Album.

DAVE MOORE’s music reflects a lifetime of interest in American roots. A true musical scholar, he has spent decades sharpening his skills as a singer, songwriter, guitarist, harmonica, and accordion player. While working on oil rigs or wandering Latin America and the American South, he sought out, played with, and learned from old-timers like blues legends Hammie Nixon, R.L. Burnside, and Furry Lewis; accordion players like Johnny Degollado and Santiago Jiménez Sr.; and current folk greats like Greg Brown and Bo Ramsey. His compact disc Over My Shoulder (Red House) was named one of the top ten folk albums of 1990 by PulseMagazine.

Singer-songwriter-science geek Lynn Peterson is a native Minnesotan whose career took her to New York City, where she spent eight years as a performer, composer, and studio vocalist, before returning to the Twin Cities. And the science geek part? She studied chemistry as an undergrad and continued graduate work focused on chemistry and sustainability. 

Preorder the 50th Anniversary Recording until November 15th at a savings!

The 50th Anniversary Celebration (2 CDs) Presale

On July 6, 1974, Garrison Keillor and a few musicians and friends staged the very first A Prairie Home Companion show at the Janet Wallace Auditorium before a small but encouraging crowd. Now, 50 years later, Garrison gathered together the Royal Academy of Radio Actors and the Guy’s All-Star Shoe Band plus some guest musicians and duet partners and began a 50th Anniversary Tour of shows around the country. What began as a concept of five Live shows has turned into about 35 shows, with Garrison rewriting portions of the show for each stop. It is a true celebration of A Prairie Home Companion — an almost three-hour show with songs and stories, words from your favorite sponsors, sketches featuring Guy Noir, the Cowboys, and Mom, a few duets and solos plus the latest News from Lake Wobegon. It is a show that has gotten fans fairly nostalgic and left them wanting more. We appreciate notes and stories from fans letting us know what the show has meant to them, and this gem of a CD offers highlights of the often funny and nostalgic performances. We sure hope you enjoy it! Get the CDs.

The final 50th Anniversary Show will be held in Atlanta on November 8th. We hope you can join us for one last time to celebrate the old show. Ticket information.