A Prairie Home Companion from American Public Media

Special Guests
Saturday, October 7, 2006

Eugene Jablonsky

Bassist Eugene Jablonsky gets around. He plays with the Spokane Symphony and has performance credits that include appearances with jazz pianist Marian McPartland, the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, the Philharmonic of Philadelphia, the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra, and the New England Ragtime Ensemble directed by Gunther Schuller. He's also a member of The Kosher Red Hots, a Seattle-based klezmer band. Jablonsky is a graduate of Washington State University and the Curtis Institute of Music. He teaches jazz studies at Whitworth College in Spokane.

Richard Kriehn

Texas-born mandolinist/violinist Richard Kriehn started playing music when he was a kid in Houston. He went on to study classical violin at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, and he recently completed a Master's Degree in Music at Washington State University in Pullman. Along the way, Richard has performed with the Arkansas Symphony, the Boise Philharmonic and the Nashville Chamber Orchestra. He was also one of the founding members and concertmaster of Boise Baroque, a chamber orchestra. But it's not an all-classical musical life for Kriehn. In 1985, he won the National Mandolin Championship at the Kerrville (Texas) festival, and he played fiddle and mandolin for country stars Aaron Tippin and Travis Tritt, and with the bluegrass outfit David Peterson and 1946. Richard Kriehn lives in Colton, Washington, with his wife, Danette, and their three children.

Stephanie Davis

In a circa 1900 one-room homestead cabin—a building on her ranch in south-central Montana—Stephanie Davis composes and records songs that reflect her life in Big Sky country. Back when, she spent a couple of years in Nashville, writing songs for the likes of Garth Brooks, Roger Whittaker, Martina McBride and Shelby Lynne. But there's no place like her home state of Montana—where her family has lived for four generations—and Stephanie is the first to tell you, daily ranch life provides constant inspiration. Her albums include I'm Pulling Through, River of No Return, Crocus in the Snow and her brand-new CD, Home for the Holidays (Recluse Records), a collection of holiday favorites, old and new.

Wylie Gustafson

Wylie Gustafson is a rancher and horseman from Dusty, Washington (population 11, at best). And when he's not tending to livestock on his Cross Three Ranch, he's serving up western swing, classic country, cowboy, and folk music — all with a healthy helping of his infectious energy — to enthusiastic audiences nationwide. With his band, Wylie & the Wild West, he has performed at the Grand Old Opry, the Kennedy Center, the National Folk Festival, the Lincoln Center, MerleFest, the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering, Japan's Country Gold Festival, Euro Disney, and state fairs from Ohio to Alaska. His latest album is LIVE! at the Tractor (Cross Three Records). A new CD, Bucking Horse Moon (Dualtone/Western Jubilee), is due for release in November.

Charlie Sutton

Singer/songwriter Charlie Sutton is back in Moscow, Idaho, where he grew up. When he was 16, he moved to St. Louis. There, he spent time hanging around the music store run by his uncles, and he formed a band called Spud (what else from a guy from Idaho). After a while, he moved on to New England, where the music scene was a better fit with his skills. But the Northwest is home, so that's where he wants to be. While he claims a variety of songwriting influences - John Hartford, Mississippi John Hurt, Harry Nilsson, Elizabeth Cotton, Tom Waits — Charlie is forging his own style. His self-produced CD is titled Charlie Sutton.