A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor

Raúl Melo

Metropolitan Opera tenor Raúl Melo has sung principal roles with major opera companies worldwide. In 2005-2006, he made his Met debut as the Duke in Rigoletto. The following season found him performing the role of Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly and in a live broadcast from Symphony Space — both with the New York City Opera. This season, his performances include Cavaradossi in Tosca with the New York City Opera and as the tenor soloist in the Verdi Requiem with the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires and the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra. He is currently appearing at the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina, singing the part of the Navigator in the Anthony Davis opera Amistad. At the piano: Tamara Sanikidze.

Rhonda Vincent and the Rage

Born in Kirksville, Missouri, Rhonda Vincent was barely five years old when she began playing with her family band, the Sally Mountain Show. At eight, she took up mandolin, and by the time she was 11, she was the Missouri State Fiddle Champion. She's found a place in the spotlight ever since. Named Female Vocalist of the Year a total of seven times by the International Bluegrass Music Association, she has also raked in countless other awards. She has 24 albums to her credit, in addition to the dozens on which she's been a guest. Her new CD is aptly called Good Thing Going (Rounder). The Rage is: Hunter Berry (fiddle), Mickey Harris (bass), Kenny Ingram (banjo) and Darrell Webb (guitar).

The Guy's All-Star Shoe Band

The Guy's All-Star Shoe Band is led by A Prairie Home Companion music director Richard Dworsky (keyboard) and features Pat Donohue (guitar), Gary Raynor (bass), Andy Stein (violin, saxophone) and Peter Johnson (percussion).

Staff Bio

Jason Keillor, Producer/Recording Engineer

When Jason Keillor was four, his dad started A Prairie Home Companion. More than 30 years later, the show is still going strong, and Jason — now married, with kids of his own — is one of its producers and recording engineers. He grew up in south Minneapolis, doing what little kids do: playing on sports teams and riding around the city's lakes on his bike. On Saturdays, he helped out at APHC, making popcorn in the lobby and sweeping up after the audience left. These days, he produces a one-hour international version of the show, broadcast on the BBC, Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Radio New Zealand. "I am also to blame," he says, "for repeat and fundraising shows, compilations, the Web site and that big bleach stain on the office carpet."