A Minnesota Chill from 1996

featuring Ad Vielle Que Pourra, Ch'uwa Yacu, and Pat Donohue

Florida Bound

Join us for a special 50th Anniversary Show from West Palm Beach, FL. Garrison Keillor brings along Aoife O’Donovan, Christine DiGiallonardo, Erica Rhodes, and our actors, Sue Scott, Tim Russell, and Fred Newman — and our band: Rich Dworsky, Howard Levy, Stuart Duncan, Richard Kriehn, and Jeff Carney. There’ll be good music, a few stories, a couple laughs — all adding up to one enjoyable evening!

February 10th at 8 p.m. at the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach, FL

Listen to the January 20, 1996, show

A Prairie Home Companion returns to the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul, Minnesota, as we revisit a classic from 1996, with Ad Vielle Que Pourra and Ch'uwa Yacu.

Highlights include “Road to Kingdom Come” from Pat Donohue, “Ma Douce Amie” from Michael Doucet, the house band’s rousing version of “Stomping at the Savoy,” Guy Noir, Duct Tape, talk of cold weather, plus the latest News from Lake Wobegon. Join us via social media channels on Saturday at 5 p.m. for a listen. Or if you simply cannot wait, listen to the show here.

Ad Vielle Que Pourra's name was a French pun that combines the French expression, ad vien que pourra, which means "come what may," with the word vielle, which was the wheel fiddle, or hurdy-gurdy, a dominant instrument within the band. Daniel Thonon, the leader and co-founder of the band, primarily played the hurdy-gurdy. Thonon, also a accordionist and guitarist, made his own hurdy-gurdy and also made instruments for members of the rock band Pink Floyd. New Brunswick native and mandolin virtuoso Gaston Bernard also played guitar, bouzouki, and violin; Benoit Bourque, an expert folk dancer from Quebec, alternated between the accordion, guitar, mandolin and recorder. Vancouver resident Pierre Imbert also played hurdy-gurdy. The band, which was based in Montreal, blended regional French folk music with medieval, Renaissance, and contemporary music. The marriage of modern instruments with more traditional instruments such as the bouzouki and hurdy-gurdy created a distinctive sound.

Faustino Cutipa, the leader of Ch'uwa Yacu, emigrated from Peru to the U.S. in 1987. He formed Chu’wa Yacu in the mid-1990s, and the band entertained listeners on New York City’s streets and subway system. This performance on the Fitzgerald Theater stage was a Grand Prize for Chu’wa Yacu, who won A Prairie Home Companion’s New York Subway Musicians Contest, the winner flown to St. Paul to perform on a show from the Fitzgerald Theater — on a very, very cold January day.

Grammy™-nominated Pat Donohue (guitar) is a native and resident of St. Paul, Minnesota. He is a National Fingerpicking Guitar Champion and an innovative songwriter, with a stack of albums to his credit on Red House Records and Bluesky Records. In addition, his songs have been recorded by Chet Atkins, Suzy Bogguss, and Kenny Rogers. His recordings include American Guitar and Blue Yonder, both on the Bluesky label. More information about Pat and his music can be found at www.patdonohue.com.

And a word from Duct Tape (featured on this week’s classic show)

GK: ... brought to you by the American Duct Tape Council. And here’s duct tape spokesperson Marlene Brower.

SS: I got these rotten, no-good teenagers who live upstairs — I see ’em for about thirty seconds a day. Come down and eat supper outta the fridge like a bunch of buzzards on road kill, and then I see about ten seconds of ’em in the morning as they dash out of the house and ask for lunch money. Forty below outside and there they are in T-shirts ’n’ sneakers ’n’ a nylon jacket. And I can’t help it, I tell ’em, I say, “What are ya? Nuts or what?” And they look at me like I was their mother or somethin’. And I say, “At least take this with ya,” and I hand ’em a roll o’ silver duct tape. I dunno. It could come in handy. Ya never know. That’s my motto when it comes to duct tape. Ya never know. So why not take it with ya?

GK: Thank you, Marlene. And thank you, Duct Tape, the miracle building material with a thousand uses around the home. It’s a better life with Duct Tape. And if you’re planning to attend our show in the next few months, why not bring along your entry in our Art Johnson Duct Tape Art Contest — winning entries will be displayed here at the world-famous Fitzgerald Theater. Please bring extra Duct Tape for hanging.

Radio Blues by Pat Donohue

The late Chet Atkins called Prairie Home house guitarist Pat Donohue “one of the greatest finger-pickers in the world today.” This spirited album of blues classics and originals showcases Donohue’s virtuosity in songs recorded live with the Guy’s All-Star Shoe Band during A Prairie Home Companion broadcasts. Cuts include “Frisco Town,” “Mudslide,” “Statesboro Blues,” and the highly requested “Sushi-Yucky.” Get the CD.

A Prairie Home Companion Shirt

This collectible shirt features one of the earliest wordmarks of A Prairie Home Companion that feels as wistful today as it did some 40 years ago alongside the house that sat on stage for most every performance of the radio show. Get the shirt.

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