A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor

The Del McCoury Band

When Del McCoury was growing up in Pennsylvania, he learned music from his mother, a church organist. And he never missed a chance to tune in the Grand Ole Opry. But when his older brother bought a 78-rpm record of Flatt and Scruggs, that sealed the deal. Del started playing bluegrass, and a half-century later, the Del McCoury Band has won nearly every honor the genre has to offer, including a Grammy and three dozen IBMA awards. Their latest release is Celebrating 50 Years of Del McCoury (McCoury Music), a retrospective five-disc box set. The band: Del McCoury, guitar; Ronnie McCoury, mandolin; Rob McCoury, banjo; Jason Carter, fiddle; Alan Bartram, bass.

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. Jearlyn Steele Sings Songs from A Prairie Home Companion is her most recent CD.

The Guy's All-Star Shoe Band

Richard Dworsky, who week in and week out leads A Prairie Home Companion's Guy's All-Star Shoe Band, is a classically trained pianist and composer who rocks, swings, plays great blues and gospel, tears it up on Hammond B3 organ, and keeps up with world-class pickers playing his unique "bluegrass piano” style. He writes all APHC's script themes and underscores, and during his 16-year stint, he has accompanied guests from James Taylor to Renée Fleming. 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.

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.

Trombonist Dave Bargeron has played with Clark Terry's Big Band, Doc Severinsen's Band and Gil Evans' Orchestra. For many years, he was a member of Blood, Sweat and Tears, with whom he recorded 11 albums. A sought-after session musician and a well-known artist in his own right, he has recorded with Mick Jagger, Eric Clapton, Gerry Mulligan, Dave Sanborn and others.

Trumpeter Jon-Erik Kellso has lived and breathed music since his childhood in Detroit. At 11, he was already doing big band work. And by the time he was 17, he had played alongside famed cornetist Wild Bill Davison. He has performed with groups such as the New McKinney's Cotton Pickers, J.C. Heard's Orchestra, James Dapogny's Chicago Jazz Band and Vince Giordano's Nighthawks.

The Fox Theater

They call it the Fabulous Fox. Little wonder. Saint Louis's Fox Theatre has been an eye-popper since the movie palace opened in January of 1929. It was built by motion picture pioneer William Fox, who had a nationwide circuit of theaters, and designed in the so-called Siamese-Byzantine style by C. Howard Crane, one of the most distinguished theater architects of the era. The cost? More than $5 million — a pretty penny 80 years ago. Eventually, the theater fell into disrepair. Kung Fu movies and the occasional concert barely kept the no-longer-so-fabulous Fox going. And finally, in 1978, the building closed. Then, in the early 1980s, a $2 million-plus restoration project was started to bring the Fox back to its 1929 grandeur. Today, the Fox Theatre is again a spectacular and popular performance venue, offering concerts, plays and other events.