APHC: Special Guests

Special Guests
Saturday, January 30, 1999

BeauSoleil's name (French for "good sun") is taken from a region of NovaScotia, settled in the 17th century by French people who later fled to New Orleans when asked to declare their allegiance to the French or the English. These settlers are credited with the beginnings of Cajun (Acadian) music, which began as the settlers' old French songs mixed with the Louisiana country music. Because Michael Doucet, the leader of BeauSoleil, grew up when traditional Cajun culture was on the decline, he played rock 'n' roll and New Orleans-style swamp pop in high school before playing French music in an improvisational group called Coteau. After Coteau, described as the "Cajun Grateful Dead," was invited to play a festival in France, Doucet returned to the States with a new found appreciation for his own culture. He received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and spent years tracking down the artists who had written and sung on the first Cajun records. In 1977, Doucet and BeauSoleil had their American debut album, The Spirit of Cajun Music. Since then, BeauSoleil has been a frequent guest on A Prairie Home Companion, and has received other nationwide attention, including seven Grammy nominations and critical acclaim for more than a dozen albums. Their newest album is the Grammy-winning L'Amour ou la Folie (Love or Folly), on Rhino Records. The six members of BeauSoleil are: Michael Doucet (vocals, fiddle), David Doucet (guitar, vocals), Jimmy Breaux (Acadian accordion), Al Tharp (bass, banjo, fiddle, vocals), Billy Ware (percussion), and Tommy Alesi (drums).

Kate MacKenzie was lead singer of Stoney Lonesome for many years, and with them she recorded six bluegrass albums, toured Europe, Japan and North America, and was featured in the public television series Showcase and the Nashville Network's Fire on the Mountain. With the Hopeful Gospel Quartet, she has recorded a live album from Carnegie Hall, performed at folk festivals in Scotland and Denmark, and was featured on PBS' Austin City Limits. The Quartet's newest recording is Climbing Up on the Rough Side (HighBridge). MacKenzie's work with A Prairie Home Companion has included co-host roles in several broadcasts, coast-to-coast tours, farewell and reunion shows, twenty Disney Channel television broadcasts, the 1993 Book of Guys tour, and a recurring dramatic role as Sheila, the Christian Jungle girl. MacKenzie's first solo album, Let Them Talk (Red House Records), received enthusiastic reviews and was on the National Bluegrass Charts for ten months. A second solo album, Age of Innocence (Red House), earned a Grammy nomination for Best Bluegrass Album. MacKenzie will perform at Woodbury Methodist Church on Sunday, February 7.

Robin and Linda Williams have been frequent guests on A Prairie Home Companion since 1976. They performed on the second and third Prairie Home Companion Reunion Tours and on broadcasts from Carnegie Hall, Radio City Music Hall, and the Universal Amphitheater. The Williamses have made numerous television appearances on the Nashville Network's Fire on the Mountain, Nashville Now, and Music City Tonight. The duo has also been heard on other nationwide radio programs, including the Grand Ole Opry, Mountain Stage and NPR's All Things Considered. With more than a dozen recordings and three musicals to their credit, they are considered to be among the finest songwriters in the folk-country tradition. Recent albums include Devil of a Dream and Sugar for Sugar (both on the Sugar Hill label), and Robin and Linda Williams and Their Fine Group-Live, Sugar Hill's re-release of Strictly Country Records' Live in Holland. Robin and Linda can also be heard on Mary Chapin Carpenter's album, Stones in the Road, and on Iris DeMent's recording, My Life. As part of the Hopeful Gospel Quartet, the duo recorded a live album from Carnegie Hall (produced by Chet Atkins, on Sony Records), toured across the United States and Europe, and was featured on PBS' Austin City Limits.

Naomi Shihab-Nye was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and with encouragement from her parents, she published her first poem at the age of 7. At 14, she lived with her family in Jerusalem for a year before they returned to the U.S. to settle in San Antonio, Texas. Libraries became her sanctuaries, where she discovered the writings of Henry David Thoreau, William Stafford, and W.S. Merwin. Since graduating from Trinity University, Nye has written three books of poems, Red Suitcase, Words Under the Words: Selected Poems, and her newest book, Fuel; several picture books, including Sitti's Secrets and Lullaby Raft; and a novel for teens entitled Habibi. She is featured on two PBS poetry specials, The Language of Life with Bill Moyers and The United States of Poetry, and her work has been read on Garrison Keillor's The Writer's Almanac, and NPR's All Things Considered. A recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship for 1997-98, Nye currently lives in San Antonio with her husband, photographer Michael Nye, and their son, Madison, and serves as the poetry editor for The Texas Observer.