A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor

Martin Sheen

Growing up in Dayton, Ohio, Martin Sheen (born Ram&oaculte;n Gerardo Antonio Estévez) always wanted to be an actor. His father thought otherwise, but undeterred, Sheen finally borrowed a few bucks from a local priest and headed for New York. That was in 1959. Over the years, he has piled up Emmys, Golden Globes and other accolades for his performances in movies such as Badlands, The Subject Was Roses, Apocalypse Now, The Departed and Bobby, and on television for "Kennedy," "Blind Ambition" and his seven seasons in the role of President Josiah Bartlet on NBC's "The West Wing." For his work as a tireless activist for social and environmental causes, he has received numerous honors, including the C&eacte;sar E. Chávez Spirit Award.

Kristin Andreassen

She sings, she dances, she writes award-winning songs, she plays a bunch of instruments. Many know Boston-based Kristin Andreassen from the old-time string band Uncle Earl. Or from her work with "folk noir" vocal trio Sometymes Why. Or from her warp-speed clogging routines with Footworks Percussive Dance Ensemble. Now this multitalented performer — whose musical beginnings included her childhood

Roy Blount Jr.

The New York Times Book Review has called Roy Blount Jr. "one of America's wittiest writers." Readers of his articles in The Oxford American, Sports Illustrated, Esquire, Vanity Fair, GQ, National Geographic, Rolling Stone and The New York Times could tell you that. So could fans of his 20 books, including the most recent, Long Time Leaving: Dispatches from Up South (Knopf). He has been honored as a Literary Lion by the New York Public Library and a Literary Light by the Boston Public Library. On radio, he is a panelist on NPR's news quiz show, Wait Wait ... Don't Tell Me. Born in Indianapolis and raised in Decatur, Georgia, Blount makes his home in western Massachusetts and Manhattan.

Chuck Mead

Many know Chuck Mead as the lead guitarist of the wildly popular country band BR549, which got its start doing four sets a night in the store window of Robert's Western World in Nashville and went on to become — as The New York Times wrote — "one of the best groups to ever walk out of the roadhouse circuit and record an album." Before there was Nashville, there was Lawrence, Kansas, where Chuck grew up and started his music career. He was in several bands — The Homestead Grays, Pagan Idols, The Blinkies, Rabbit Scat — before moving on to Tennessee and forming BR549. Calling themselves "the hardest-rocking and hardest-working, here-to-stay band in Country today," they've put out bunch of CDs. The most recent, Dog Days, is on the Dualtone label.

Nellie McKay

She started out wanting to be a jazz musician. Now when singer, songwriter, actor, stand-up comedian and activist Nellie McKay sits down at the piano or picks up the ukulele, you're apt to hear some blend of jazz, pop, hip-hop, cabaret or vaudeville. The London-born, New York-based performer — who spent her teenage years in the Poconos — has found quite a following with her quirky musical approach. She's nothing if not outspoken, and the causes she holds dear — animal rights, for instance — are apt to turn up in her unpredictable song lyrics. Her 2004 debut CD was called Get Away From Me — a play on the title of Norah Jones' Come Away With Me. Her latest recording, Obligatory Villagers (Hungry Mouse), was released last fall.

Suzy Bogguss

Growing up in Aledo, Illinois, Suzy Bogguss loved music. She joined the church choir, played the piano and drums, and bought her first 12-string with the money she earned from babysitting. She moved to Nashville in the mid-'80s and paid the bills by singing demos by day and performing three nights a week at a local rib joint. Now, more than a dozen albums later, and awards ranging from the Academy of Country Music's Top New Female Vocalist of 1989 to a Horizon Award given by the Country Music Association, Suzy has won acclaim in both country and contemporary music circles. Her new CD is Sweet Danger (Loyal Dutchess Records).

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 masterful keyboard player, composer and improviser in any style, he writes all the script themes and underscores, and he has accompanied guests from James Taylor to Renée Fleming. His latest CD is So Near and Dear to Me.

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.

Andy Stein (violin, saxophone) definitely has far-flung musical leanings. He collaborated with Garrison Keillor to create the opera Mr. and Mrs. Olson, and he has performed with artists such as Itzhak Perlman, Eric Clapton, Smashing Pumpkins, Billy Joel, Tony Bennett, Ray Charles and Bob Dylan.