A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor

With a little luck and a whole lot of talent, Old Crow Medicine Show went from playing their slash-and-burn brand of old-time music on the streets of Boone, North Carolina, to bringing down the house at the Grand Ole Opry. Willie Watson (guitar), Ketch Secor (fiddle), Gill Landry (banjo, guitar), Kevin Hayes (guitjo) and Morgan Jahnig (bass) have wowed audiences coast to coast with their distinctive take on pre-World War II blues, rags, hollers, fiddle tunes and jug band numbers. They have been included in several documentaries, including PBS's American Roots Music series and In the Valley Where Time Stands Still, a film about the history of the Renfro Valley Barn Dance. Their new CD, Tennessee Pusher, was released last month on the Nettwerk Records label.

Maria Jette

In addition to her 45-plus operatic roles, soprano Maria Jette has performed pop songs, chamber music, oratorio and more. She has appeared with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, New York Chamber Symphony, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and Minnesota Orchestra, and with numerous symphony orchestras coast to coast. A frequent collaborator with VocalEssence and other choral ensembles, she is also a regular guest at the San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival and the Oregon Festival of American Music. For years, Twin Cities audiences have delighted in her Sopranorama performances with Molly Sue McDonald, Janis Hardy and Dan Chouinard.

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 trio, his eight-piece New Orleans Jazz Originals, and with symphony orchestras around the globe. His first recording, Butch Thompson Plays Jelly Roll Morton Piano Solos, was recently re-issued as a Biograph CD.

Guy's All-Star Shoe Band

The Guy's All-Star Shoe Band is led by A Prairie Home Companion music director Richard Dworsky. A keyboard master with an arsenal of ideas, he has worked with artists from Al Jarreau to Kristin Chenoweth to the Hopeful Gospel Quartet. His latest CD is So Near and Dear to Me (Prairie Home Productions).

Chet Atkins called Pat Donohue (guitar) one of the greatest finger pickers in the world today. And he writes songs too — recorded by Suzy Bogguss, Kenny Rogers and others. Freewayman (Bluesky Records) is the most recent of Pat's nine albums.

Gary Raynor (bass) has performed with the Count Basie band, Sammy Davis Jr. — with whom he toured for several years — and the Minnesota Klezmer Band. He teaches jazz bass at the McNally Smith College of Music in St. Paul.

Peter Johnson (percussion) has played klezmer music with Doc Severinsen and jazz with Dave Brubeck. He was a drummer for The Manhattan Transfer and for Gene Pitney. He has toured the world, but he always comes back to home base: Saint Paul.

In a career spanning 30-plus years, woodwinds player Dale Mendenhall has performed on many Twin Cities stages — from Orchestra Hall with the Minnesota Orchestra to the Guthrie, Ordway, Children's Theatre, State Theatre and Orpheum. He's backed up artists such as Natalie Cole, Aretha Franklin, Tony Bennett and David Letterman, and he appears at jazz festivals around the country with the Orlando, Florida-based Bill Allred Classic Jazz Orchestra. He toured Japan with Ben Sidran and French jazz vocalist Clémentine, and his sound was heard on the chart-topping pop hit "Funkytown."

Trombonist Michael B. Nelson is the leader, arranger and trombonist for the top-flight Twin Cities horn ensemble The Hornheads. In addition to performing with the likes of Doc Severinsen, Chaka Khan, Lenny Kravitz, Ben Sidran, Sammy Davis Jr., Phil Upchurch and many others, he has composed and arranged for Prince and other international artists. He grew up in Wausau, Wisconsin, where he started playing trombone as a teenager. In 1980, he took a break from college, moved to the Twin Cities, and never looked back.

You may have heard trumpeter Steve Strand playing commercial jingles for the Minnesota Twins, Macy's, ESPN, Holiday Inn Express or the Minnesota Wild. More visibly, he is a member of Twin Cities horn ensemble The Hornheads. With that group, this Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, native has toured and/or recorded with Prince, Phil Upchurch, the Steve Wright Big Band, Peter Ostroushko, Lorie Line, Mandy Moore and others. Decades ago, he backed up visiting headliners at the Minnesota State Fair as a member of the Ray Komischke Orchestra.