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Special Guests Saturday, October 29, 2005 Nickel Creek When siblings Sara and Sean Watkins were very young children, their parents regularly took the family to the local pizza parlor to have dinner and listen to a bluegrass band. Chris Thile's parents did the same thing, and soon the kids-who would later call themselves Nickel Creek-became friends. They also became terrific musicians-Sara on fiddle, Sean on guitar, and Chris on mandolin. Now Nickel Creek is chart-topping sensation. And with a sound that includes elements of jazz, rock 'n' roll, classical and more, it's no wonder their fan base extends well beyond the die-hard bluegrassers. The group's second album, This Side, won a Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album. Nickel Creek's new CD release is titled Why Should the Fire Die? (Sugar Hill Records).Midwinter Tuba Quintet The five musicians who occasionally come together on A Prairie Home Companion as the Midwinter Tuba Quintet have outstanding separate careers. David Werden (euphonium) was with the United States Coast Guard Band for more than 20 years. He is a computer consultant and an instructor of euphonium and tuba at the University of Minnesota. John Tranter (euphonium) serves as Instructor of Low Brass at the University of Minnesota. He plays solo euphonium with the Sheldon Theatre Brass Band and is a frequent performer with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra (on trombone). Lee Dummer (euphonium) performed with the Eastman Wind Ensemble before being selected as a member of the United States Army Band (Pershing's Own). He as appeared with various orchestras and ensembles, including the Minnesota Orchestra. Ralph Hepola (tuba) has played with The United States Army Band of Washington, D.C. and the Symphony Orchestra of Basel, Switzerland, among others. He is currently with Minnesota Opera and leads own group, Route 3. Tom McCaslin (tuba) has performed with the Minnesota Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the New Mexico Symphony, the Santa Fe Symphony, the Winnipeg Symphony and the Regina Symphony Orchestra. He is an instructor of tuba at Bemidji State University and in February will begin as Principal Tubist in the Auckland (New Zealand) Philharmonia.Tim Eriksen Tim Eriksen is nothing if not eclectic. After all, how many of us can lay claim to appearing on stage with Kurt Cobain and Doc Watson? As a kid Eriksen wanted to play punk rock. He wound up studying South Indian classical music and branched out from there. He's a singer; he plays guitar, fiddle, and banjo; and he's recently attracted a lot of attention for his longtime role as a leader in the centuries-old shape-note tradition. Yes, Tim Eriksen gets around. He was a founding member of the rock/punk/American traditional trio Cordelia's Dad and the stark shape-note vocal quartet Northampton Harmony, and he co-founded the Bosnian traditional/popular ensemble Zabe i Babe. He was a music consultant for the motion picture Cold Mountain (and made an appearance in the film). Eriksen has performed at folk and rock festivals in throughout North America and Europe. He currently makes his home in Minnesota, where he and his wife, University of Minnesota ethnomusicologist Mirjana Lausevic, are working on A World in Two Cities—a Web-based musical ethnography of the Twin Cities area.Adam Granger Adam Granger is a flatpicking guitar wiz. He has written about that style, given lessons, and played countless tunes since he taught himself to play 45 years ago. In 1974, he moved from his native Oklahoma to Minnesota, where he became a charter member of the Powdermilk Biscuit Band, A Prairie Home Companion's first house band. Following his APHC stint, he played for eight years in The Eclectic Brothers, an acoustic swing trio, then returned to solo work. His book-CD set, Granger's Fiddle Tunes for Guitar, is the largest collection of fiddle tunes in guitar tablature in the world. Granger's 10th album, Solo Plectrum, is scheduled for release later this year.Prudence Johnson Her 25-year career in music has taken her from nightclubs and honky-tonks to Carnegie Hall, from the theater stage to the Silver Screen (Robert Redford's A River Runs Through It), from the Midwest to the Middle East. She is a regularly featured guest on Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion, heard across the country on public radio stations. Her ten album releases include Little Dreamer, a collection of international lullabies, Moon Country, which features the music of Hoagy Carmichael, and S'Gershwin, a collaboration with pianist Dan Chouinard. She recently collaborated with four Minnesota composers to create A Girl Named Vincent, a presentation of the poetry of Edna St. Vincent Millay set to music, to be released on CD this year. She is a 2001 recipient of the McKnight Artists Fellowship for Performing Musicians and enjoys a steady schedule of concert appearances across the country.Ruth MacKenzie Ruth MacKenzie is a singer and composer whose work includes musical adaptations of The Snow Queen and Hansel and Gretel for The Children's Theatre Company in Minneapolis, and Kalevala: Dream of the Salmon Maiden, an award-winning production based on the great Finnish epic myth-poem, composed and performed by MacKenzie and produced by the Guthrie Theater. As a folk and blues singer, she has performed throughout the United States and Europe. Among her many awards is the 2004 McKnight Fellowship for Artists in Composition.Andy Stein Violinist and saxophonist Andy Stein was a regular member of Guy's All-Star Shoe Band on A Prairie Home Companion from 1989 to 2001. He collaborated with Garrison Keillor to create the opera Mr. and Mrs. Olson. He has appeared on Saturday Night Live and Late Night with David Letterman, and has performed with such artists as Itzhak Perlman, Eric Clapton, Smashing Pumpkins, Billy Joel, Tony Bennett, Ray Charles, Bob Dylan, and many others. | | | |
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