A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor

Jerry Douglas

Mention a dobro and Jerry Douglas immediately comes to mind. Little wonder. The 12-time Grammy winner and Country Music Association's Musician of the Year can be heard on more than a thousand albums, including discs by Garth Brooks, Paul Simon, James Taylor, Vince Gill and Ray Charles. He has been a member of groundbreaking bands like the Country Gentlemen, J.D. Crowe & the New South and Alison Krauss & Union Station, and he has a thriving career as a solo artist as well. Glide (Koch Records) is his latest CD. Luke Bulla plays violin with Jerry Douglas.

Jearlyn Steele

Jearlyn Steele grew up in Indiana and first sang with her siblings (as The Steele Children). After she left home and moved to Minnesota, one by one the rest of the Steele kids followed. They started singing together again as The Steeles, and now music is the family business. Jearlyn also hosts Steele Talkin', a Sunday-night radio show that originates on WCCO in Minneapolis and is heard in some 30 states nationwide. Steele Praising Hymn is her most recent CD.

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.

Andra Suchy, Joanna Jahn and Kari Shaw (The Dollys)

While Andra Suchy, Joanna Jahn and Kari Shaw have separate careers — singing, acting, doing commercial jingles, etc. — they also work together as the Dollys, a Twin Cities-based trio. Andra, who spent her childhood on a North Dakota farm, has performed and recorded with numerous bands. Her solo CD is called Patchwork Story. Joanna grew up in rural Minnesota and first took the stage at age three with her family's traveling group, the Jahn Family Singers. Her solo album is titled Joanna Jahn. Kari, founder of the Dollys, first sang harmony with her sister, branched out to sing with her church choir, and has wound up a sought-after vocalist. When she's not making music, Kari works as a nanny.

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.

Originally from Cloquet, Minnesota, pedal steel player Joe Savage made his way to Minneapolis in the 1980s. These days, he is a fixture on the Twin Cities music scene, performing with a number of artists in addition to keeping up his work as a studio musician.

When a very young Marc Anderson (percussion) saw the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show, the die was cast. He started taking drum lessons, and before long he had his first band. Over the years, he has studied drumming styles from the far corners of the globe. In addition to performing, he is an adjunct professor in Hamline University's Anthropology Department.