This week on A Prairie Home Companion This week, we travel back to May 2010 for a big show from the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, with special guests bluegrass musicians Steep Canyon Rangers, blues singer EG Kight, country from Caroline Herring who kicks in “See See Rider.” Roy Blount Jr. dazzles with a few Southern tales. Throw in a Gone with the Wind spoof, a visit to the dermatologist, a touching tribute to Bill Hinkley, a song or two from the house band, and of course, we’ll have the latest News from Lake Wobegon. The link is posted on Saturdays at 5 p.m. CT each week on our Facebook page. Listen to the Show >>>
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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.
Roy Blount Jr. The New York Times Book Review has called Roy Blount Jr. “one of America’s wittiest writers.” Readers of his articles in The Oxford American, Sports Illustrated, Esquire, Vanity Fair, GQ, National Geographic, Rolling Stone, and The New York Times could tell you that. So could fans of his two dozen books. He has been honored as a Literary Lion by the New York Public Library and a Literary Light by the Boston Public Library. On radio, he is a regular panelist on NPR’s news quiz show, Wait Wait … Don’t Tell Me. Born in Indianapolis and raised in Decatur, Georgia, Blount is a member of the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame and the Fellowship of Southern Writers. “Joke Survey” from Pretty Good Jokes >>>
View available books >>> The Steep Canyon Rangers, first got together in college, and over the past decade or so the Asheville, North Carolina-based quintet has built a solid reputation among bluegrass fans. The group has been regularly featured on the Grand Ole Opry and at music festivals such as MerleFest, Telluride, and RockyGrass, and many know them from their appearances as Steve Martin’s backing band. The band’s personnel on this broadcast: Woody Platt (guitar), Graham Sharp (banjo), Mike Guggino (mandolin), Charles R. Humphrey III (bass) and Nicky Sanders (fiddle). “Chuck in the Bush” from 9/5/2015 >>>
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Growing up in small-town Mississippi, singer-songwriter Caroline Herring studied piano and flute, and she sang in the church choir. After college, she moved west to Texas, where for many years she was associated with the Austin music scene, and where in 2001 she released her debut album, Twilight. For Golden Apples of the Sun, Herring won the prestigious Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters award for musical composition. Her latest album, Versus, was released in 2019. “Back Mountain Lullaby” >>>
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She’s called “The Georgia Songbird,” and Dublin, Georgia, native EG Kight has spent most of her life earning the title. By age three, she was singing in church; in her teens she was writing country songs and performing at festivals. But it was after she heard a Koko Taylor recording that her musical career took a dramatic turn toward the blues. Since then, she has been honored with a half-dozen nominations for Blues Music Awards by the Memphis-based Blues Foundation. And two of her songs wound up on Koko Taylor albums.
“Through the Eyes of a Child” >>>
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A word from one of our sponsors
At 3 p.m. each Saturday on our Facebook page, we are presenting a classic ad from one of our sponsors to remind you of the oncoming classic rebroadcast. We hope you are enjoying them! Here is a word from Powdermilk Biscuits on shyness from last Saturday:
SIX MAJOR CAUSES OF SHYNESS
The cause of shyness is something that’s never been determined to the satisfaction of anybody — certainly not to the satisfaction of shy persons. Still, there’s argument and debate over it. Some people say that it’s caused by heredity; other people think you get it from your parents. Some people say it’s caused by “environment,” and you get it from the influence of people and things around you.
I’ve always thought that shyness is caused by being from Minnesota — which I am. Not from being IN Minnesota, you understand; being IN Minnesota just fine. It’s when you go away and you are FROM Minnesota, and people ask you, “Where are you from?” and you say, “You know what …” and a kind of haze comes over their face. Kind of a blank look in their eyes. They say, “Oh oh, yeah. It gets cold up there, doesn’t it?” They say, “Yeah, I used to know somebody who used to be from Minnesota — from near Milwaukee, I think.” And you get a definite impression that you come from a state that has failed to make a definite impression on the rest of the country, kind of a blurry state that’s somewhere out there; somewhere around the middle of the country, someplace — and that being from there, you may be a little indistinct around the edges, too, may not even be a real person, maybe only be a shadow, or a translucent outline of a person, or maybe just a cloud of gas who’s standing there.
The same thing happens to people who are from Rhode Island, who are from Delaware, who are from Arkansas, who are from Oklahoma, who are from Iowa — which are five other major causes of shyness. But you know, even if you’re from nowhere, you can still be somebody — whether other people think so or not. And what better way to start than to start with some of these? Heavens, they’re tasty and expeditious. They teach you one thing. They teach you that if something as plain as a biscuit could be so good — why, there must be hope for the rest of us. Powdermilk Biscuits.
CICADAS
Garrison Keillor often satirized or set to music, poem, or prose some of nature’s natural wonders. And this year, we revisit one of those wonders. Yes, the cicada symphony is coming, but cool weather is putting a damper on the orchestra, which occurs every 17 years. So, here is Garrison’s ode this creature that exists to mate, lay eggs, and die every 17 years.
The seventeen-year cicada crawls out of the ground
And looks around
From a wall or a low-hanging limb —
He looks for her and she discovers him.
Courtship does not extend for months.
Their only job is to have sex once.
No long interlude of pleasant reminiscing about days gone by.
Just buzz and whir and thank you sir and then you die.
Cicada love does not involve poetry or song.
Was it good for you? Thanks. So long.
“Cicadas” was originally performed as part of a two-night celebration at the Fitzgerald Theater upon the release of Garrison’s poetry collection O, What a Luxury. The poem appears in printed form in the book and as part of the CD recording of the book. Watch Garrison perform “Cicadas” >>>
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