This week, a classic from October 28, 1995, originally aired live from the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul. With Jearlyn Steele, Kate MacKenzie, bluegrass singer Larry Sparks, soprano Elisabeth Comeaux, and Bill Hinkley & Judy Larson. It’s Halloween time. In Lake Wobegon. Mr. Martinson is dressing up like the Grim Reaper and jumping out of bushes, and Lake Wobegon is full of all sorts of ghost stories. Listen to the show.
Kate MacKenzie was a favorite guest of A Prairie Home Companion going back to 1981. For many years, she was lead singer of Stoney Lonesome, with whom she recorded six bluegrass albums, toured Japan and North America, and was featured in the public television series Showcase. With the Hopeful Gospel Quartet, MacKenzie recorded a live album from Carnegie Hall, performed at folk festivals in Scotland and Denmark, and appeared on PBS’ Austin City Limits. Her work with A Prairie Home Companion included coast-to-coast tours, farewell and reunion shows, 20 Disney Channel television broadcasts, the 1993 Book of Guys tour, and a recurring dramatic role as Sheila, the Christian Jungle Girl (wild, yet pure). Read our guest interview or grab her newest album.
Growing up in Indiana, Jearlyn Steele sang with her siblings as The Steele Children. One by one, they moved to Minnesota and started singing together again. Now music is the family business: The Steele Family has garnered fans across the globe. A Prairie Home favorite, Jearlyn has performed with Minnesota Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and others.
Larry Sparks grew up the youngest of nine children in a family where everyone took an interest in music. He started playing guitar when he was only 5; at 16, he was hired to play with the Stanley Brothers. He formed Larry Sparks and the Lonesome Ramblers in 1969 and began a recording career that established Sparks as one of the top names in bluegrass music. The group for this performance is: Larry Sparks (guitar and vocals), Scott Napier (mandolin), Josh McMurray (banjo), and Matthew Madden (bass).
Like the News from Lake Wobegon and Guy Noir, Private Eye, The Lives of the Cowboys sketch has become a signature part of A Prairie Home Companion. Fans can’t wait to hear Lefty’s latest poem or Dusty’s latest rant.
In six complete sketches drawn from the radio show, the two pardners cope with hangovers and citrusy aftershave, try to get in the Christmas mood (not much luck there), meet a vampire, drive a herd of 10,000 free-range chickens, tangle with a territorial poet named Big Messer, pay a visit to the New York Public Library, and wind up in the San Luis Obispo County Jail for mistaking a cocker spaniel for a coyote. Each sketch is a glimpse into daily life in and mostly out of the saddle. Includes four songs.
Garrison Keillor stars as Lefty; Tim Russell as Dusty; with Sue Scott, Tom Keith, Danielle Di Vecchio, and Julie Boyd. Click here to purchase the collection.
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