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Special Guests Saturday, July 29, 2006 Dan Newton Accordionist Dan "Daddy Squeeze" Newton has been wowing audiences with offbeat accordion music since 1987, when he won the Nebraska State Accordion Contest at the Czech Festival in Wilber. He heads up a bunch of different groups, including the Café Accordion Orchestra, which specializes in vintage swing, Latin, polka and French musette.Butch Thompson For 12 years of his four-decade career, Butch Thompson was the house pianist on A Prairie Home Companion, dating back to the show's second broadcast in July 1974. As a soloist, he has earned a worldwide reputation as a master of ragtime, stride and classic jazz piano. Described by Jazz Journal International as "the premier player in traditional jazz today," Thompson also performs with his well-known trio, his eight-piece New Orleans Jazz Originals, and with symphony orchestras, including the Hartford Symphony, the St. Louis Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, and the Cairo (Egypt) Symphony. Thompson's first recording, Butch Thompson Plays Jelly Roll Morton Piano Solos, has been re-issued as a Biograph CD. His latest recordings are Butch Thompson's Big Three: 'Tain't Nobody's Business (Jazzology Records), featuring Butch on piano, Duke Heitger on trumpet, and Jimmy Mazzy on banjo and vocals; and At First Light (Turnagain Music), in which Butch teams up with the Miami Philharmonic and conductor Gordon Wright for a program of originals by Wright.Erica Rhodes When Erica Rhodes first appeared on A Prairie Home Companion, the young actress had to stand on a box in order to share a mic with the other performers. Since then, she has grown up, studied at Boston University's College of Fine Arts, and is currently enrolled at the Atlantic Theater Conservatory in New York. She toured with the children's theater company TheatreWorks/USA in a production of Ramona Quimby, and on television, she has appeared on Film Fakers (AMC). Recently, she and some acting colleagues started a theater group. It launched in February of 2006 with a series of one-act plays at The Next Stage in Manhattan's West Village. Plans for a full-length play are in the works.Kosher Red Hots The Kosher Red Hots explore the rich treasure trove of Jewish music-klezmer dance tunes, Yiddish and Ladino folk songs, and lots more. Based in Seattle, the group performs everywhere from concert halls to nightclubs, preschools to colleges, dinner theaters to sidewalk bistros. And they are a favortie at Seattle's Jewish old folks homes, playing the songs many residents remember from long ago. In the band: Laurie Andres (accordion and piano) is a master of several musical styles. He became one of the nation's best-known contra dance accordionists, playing throughout the United States, Canada and Europe, then turned his attention to Yiddish folk music-part of his musical DNA since childhood when his grandmother read her Yiddish poetry to him. Liz Dreisbach (clarinet, saxophone, recorder) was hooked early on by the folk clarinet, fueled by her father's obsession with German oom-pah and her Slovakian grandpa who urged her to play like the polka music that came out of his Victrola. She has a Master's degree in ethnomusicology from the University of Washington, and she is co-director of programming for the Northwest Folklife Festival. Sheila Fox (vocals and clarinet) has toured the United States and Russia presenting Yiddish theater and folk music, rarely heard Ladino romanzas, jazz standards, and klezmer, the music her great-grandfather played. Seattle folk music veteran Sandy Bradley has called Sheila "... a wise storyteller and a Betty Boop with a huge voice. She takes joy in every note." Eugene Jablonsky (double bass and guitar) remembers his mother and grandmother singing old Yiddish songs. With a degree in double bass performance from the Curtis Institute of Music, he currently plays in the Spokane Symphony. He has also performed with jazz pianist Marian McPartland, Gunther Schuller and The New England Ragtime Ensemble, swing violin legend Johnny Gimble, and jazz violinists Darol Anger and Johnny Frigo. The Kosher Red Hots latest CD is titled One With Everything On It.The Redd Volkaert Band List the people Redd Volkaert has backed up with his amazing guitar chops and you've got a who's who of the music business. From Mavis Staples to Merle Haggard, Commander Cody to Charlie Pride, Redd is the go-to guy for musicians of every stripe. Canada-born, now Texas-based, Redd learned to pick guitar from his dad. As a teen he played bars and clubs in British Columbia and Alberta. In his twenties, he moved to Los Angeles, and finally to Nashville in 1990, where he was sought-after for session work and road dates. Since moving to Austin about six years ago, Redd has become a fixture on that city's thriving music scene. As the Austin Chronicle put it, Redd Volkaert is a Telecaster master who's "all over the guitar like grease on a pork chop." Dobro and steel guitar ace Cindy Cashdollar is the winner of five Grammy Awards. She was honored as Instrumentalist of the Year in 2003 by the Academy of Western Artists Awards, the same year she was inducted into the Texas Western Swing Hall of Fame. Born and raised in Woodstock, New York, and now living in Austin, Texas, Cindy has played with Asleep at the Wheel, Bob Dylan, Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton-the list goes on and on. Check out her solo CD, Slide Show (Silver Shot Records). Nathan Rowe has slapped bass with any number of musicians around Austin, including Matt Powell, Seth Walker, and Warren Hood and Hoodlums. Originally from Indiana, he got his start in music when he was in high school. He moved to Austin 1995. After realizing that incredibly good guitarists are a dime a dozen in Austin, he switched to bass and it "felt like home." Rounding out the Redd Volkaert Band's rhythm section is Chris Gilson on drums.Hopeful Gospel Quartet As the Hopeful Gospel Quartet (Garrison Keillor, Robin and Linda Williams, and Carol Elizabeth Jones) explains it, the group "began its career backstage at Prairie Home shows, when we stood waiting for the balloon to go up and sang to pass the time and found out that we all like gospel songs and that they sound wonderful in a stairwell." Now, countless gigs (and a couple of personnel changes) later, they are still finding great four-part harmonies in stairwells and on stages across the country.Singing the music they love-be it bluegrass, folk, old-time, or acoustic country-Robin and Linda Williams have carved out a three-decade career that has taken them from Carnegie Hall to the Hollywood Bowl. They've have written dozens of terrific songs, ones that have been covered by the likes of Emmylou Harris, Tom T. Hall, Tim & Mollie O'Brien, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Kathy Mattea, and The Seldom Scene. Robin and Linda's latest CDs are Deeper Waters and The First Christmas Gift, both on Red House Records. Carol Elizabeth Jones hails from the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. She has made her mark as a singer of traditional mountain music and as a writer of new songs in the old tradition. She has recorded several acclaimed albums of original material. Ridin' Along (Yodel-Ay-Hee Records), released in 2005, is a collection of classic country and bluegrass duets with Laurel Bliss. Jearlyn Steele A native of Indiana, Jearlyn Steele first sang with her siblings (as The Steele Children) in churches, concert halls and on radio and television. After Jearlyn left home and moved to Minnesota, one by one the rest of the Steele kids followed, and they started singing together again as The Steeles. Now music is the family business. Fans still remember their participation in The Gospel at Colonus at the Guthrie Theater and on Broadway. Jearlyn has voiced many local and national commercials, and she has recorded with top acts including George Clinton and Prince. Her most recent CD is titled Steele Praising Him. She is the entertainment reporter for Twin Cities Public Television's public-affairs program, Almanac, and she hosts Steele Talkin', a Sunday-night radio show that originates on WCCO in Minneapolis and is heard in some 30 states nationwide.Billy Steele Billy Steele is the youngest of the talented Steele siblings. He is a composer, keyboardist, and record producer who works with various artists, including the Steele Family. He serves as assistant music director of the Grammy Award-winning group the Sounds of Blackness, and his voice can be heard on the soundtrack of the Disney DVD John Henry, from the American Legends series. Billy Steele is also an ordained minister.Bill Hinkley and Judy Larson Garrison Keillor first heard Bill Hinkley and Judy Larson playing in the lobby of a south Minneapolis theater in 1972. The couple's association with A Prairie Home Companion dates back to July 6, 1974, the first show. Bill plays numerous instruments and his friends swear there isn't a song-any style, any period-he doesn't know. Judy's vocals and guitar accompaniment are truly irresistible. Together they dabble in blues, old-time, vintage jazz, Nordic folk, Latin and Irish music, and a jug band tune every now and then. In 1999 Bill was inducted into the Minnesota Music Hall of Fame, and in 2000 he and Judy received a lifetime achievement award from the Minnesota Bluegrass and Old-Time Music Association. Their CD, Out in Our Meadow, is on Red House Records.Louis Jenkins Born in Oklahoma, poet Louis Jenkins is a Minnesotan now. He's made his home in Duluth for decades, and the Minnesota Humanities Commission awarded him the 1995 Minnesota Book Award for Nice Fish: New & Selected Prose Poems (Holy Cow! Press). His other books of poetry include An Almost Human Gesture (1987), All Tangled Up With the Living (1991), Just Above Water (1997) and The Winter Road (2000). His recent collection is titled Sea Smoke (Coffee House Press). Jenkins' poems have been published in numerous literary magazines and anthologies, including The Best American Poetry 1999 and Great American Prose Poems, both published by Scribner.Jody Stecher and Kate Brislin The harmony singing of San Francisco-based duo Jody Stecher and Kate Brislin is often likened to masters of the form, legends like the Louvin Brothers, Stanley Brothers, Blue Sky Boys and the Carter Family. In the opinion of Utah Phillips, "If the great swirling mass of folk music has a solid, persistent, unwavering center, that's who Jody and Kate are." They formed their duet in 1985, and the two married in 1987. They have released a string of critically acclaimed albums, including Our Town, which was a Grammy finalist in the Best Traditional Folk Album category. Kate, whose mother was a singer, took a liking to music as a child, playing piano, then ukulele. Later she took up the guitar and five-string banjo. Many fans remember her stint with the all-female string band Any Old Time. By the time Jody hit his teens, he was playing mandolin, guitar and fretless banjo. He later added fiddle to his arsenal. His interests run the gamut of traditional music-from old-time and bluegrass to Cajun, British Isles, Bahamian and Indian. In addition to his recordings with Kate Brislin, Stecher has appeared on dozens of albums, accompanying music greats like Fred McDowell, Buddy MacMaster, Tommy Jarrell, Dewey Balfa and Joseph Spence.Gordon Wright Conductor Gordon Wright served as music director of the Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra from 1969 to 1989. In 1970, he founded the Arctic Chamber Orchestra, the orchestra's touring arm, which has traveled to remote communities in Alaska every year since then. Wright's music career has taken him to Germany, Switzerland, England, Norway and the People's Republic of China. He has appeared as guest conductor of the Philomusica of London, the Norwegian Radio Orchestra and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, which he founded in 1969. Born in Brooklyn, New York, Gordon Wright earned degrees from the College of Wooster (Ohio) and the University of Wisconsin in Madison. He furthered his studies at the Collegium Musicum in Berlin and at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. He is professor emeritus at the University of Alaska, where he taught from 1969 to 1989. A dedicated outdoorsman, he lives on a mountainside in Indian, Alaska. He has explored much of the state, from the Southeast Panhandle to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the Aleutian Islands. He has backpacked remote Alaska, floated the wild rivers, kayaked in Glacier Bay, bicycled the Alaskan highway system and camped with the grizzlies on Admiralty Island.Andy Stein Andy Stein (violin, saxophone) 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 artists such as Itzhak Perlman, Eric Clapton, Smashing Pumpkins, Billy Joel, Tony Bennett, Ray Charles and Bob Dylan. |
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