A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor

Joe Ely and Joel Guzmán

Joe Ely left West Texas as a teenager in the late '60 and put on miles like a trucker. As he puts it, "I followed Woody Guthrie west and the blues guys down south; was on the West Coast during all the big hippie days." After living in Europe for a while, he returned to Texas. "I always knew the best musicians were in Lubbock," he says. Accordionist Joel Guzmán was performing with his father's band before he had even started school — "El Pequeño Gigante" ("The Little Giant") they called him. Now an in-demand instrumentalist, singer and producer, he is known for fusing traditional Mexican music with other genres. Live Cactus! — a new CD by Ely and Guzmán — was released this spring on Rack 'Em Records.

Chris Thile

Chris Thile made his first appearance on A Prairie Home Companion in 1996. He was 15, had already been playing mandolin for 10 years, and had released his first solo album, Leading Off, a couple of years before. In the mid-1990s, he formed Nickel Creek with Sara Watkins on violin and Sean Watkins on guitar. The Grammy Award-winning trio called a hiatus last fall, and Chris now leads the band Punch Brothers. The group's debut recording, Punch, was recently released on Nonesuch Records and includes Chris's four-movement, 40-minute suite for bluegrass instruments, "The Blind Leaving the Blind."

Prudence Johnson

That silky alto and striking style — you'd expect to find Prudence Johnson singing at a high-tone nightspot. And you might. But be it a concert hall, a little jazz club or A Prairie Home Companion, Pru is the perfect complement. As one music critic put it, "[There's] not a genre she hasn't interpreted with her ducky, sensual alto voice and terminally good taste." Her recent CDs include 'S Gershwin and Moon Country, a collection of songs by Hoagy Carmichael. On the silver screen, she appeared in Robert Redford's A River Runs Through It, and in Robert Altman's A Prairie Home Companion.

Sorela

Sorela is sisters D'ette and D'anna Tesso. When they were barely school age, they took first place in a church talent show. Now in their early twenties, the two have spent most of their lives singing and entertaining. For years they called their duet "D'Girlz," but finally decided to go with Sorela — a nod to their Spanish and Italian ancestry. This award-winning Albuquerque-based duo performs and records original material as well as traditional Mexican songs in ranchera, cumbia and ballad styles. Their 2005 self-titled CD led to their being named Female Entertainers of the Year by the New Mexico Musicians Fund — an honor they repeated in 2007. A new album is in the works.

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), Joe Savage (steel guitar) and Peter Johnson (percussion).

Staff Bio

Russ Ringsak, Truck Driver/Writer

Since the earliest days of the show, Russ Ringsak has been A Prairie Home Companion's renaissance man. He has done a bit of everything, including coming up with research about the places we visit and the people we meet and writing not-to-be-missed essays for APHC's Web site. But he may be best known as the show's truck driver. He deals with the state and federal governments on matters of licensing, fuel tax reciprocity, logbooks, permits and drug testing. "Nothing glamorous, or even whimsical, about any of it." he quips. A native of North Dakota ("I take motorcycle trips through it to Montana."), Ringsak is the author of two books: Minnesota Curiosities, about offbeat people and places in the North Star State, and Semi True, stories from out on the road.

Venue Information

The Pan American Center

Any Aggie can tell you: The Pan American Center is the place to be during basketball season. Designed by W.C. Kruger and Associates of Santa Fe, it opened on the grounds of New Mexico State University in Las Cruces in November of 1968. The first game played in the new building was just what b-ball fans came to see: a 96-89 win over Colorado State. But the 13,000-seat arena has also been the site of concerts by some of the biggest names in music — names like Elton John, Garth Brooks, Janet Jackson, George Strait, Sheryl Crow and Phish. Eight years ago, Amusement Business Magazine declared it the sixth-busiest university event facility in the country. And whatever its ranking today, the Pan American Center heads into its fifth decade one of the finest venues of its type in the Southwest.