A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor

Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver

When Doyle Lawson was growing up in East Tennessee, he'd look forward to Saturday nights when the Grand Ole Opry was on the air and he could hear the likes of Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys. At age 11, he taught himself to play the mandolin, and still in his teens, he got a job playing banjo with Jimmy Martin. After stints with J.D. Crowe and The Country Gentlemen, he started his own band in 1979. The group has earned multiple Grammy nominations and innumerable International Bluegrass Music Association awards, including IBMA's 2007 Vocal Group of the Year and Gospel Recorded Performance of the Year. Their most recent recording is Lonely Street, which came out last year on Rounder Records.

Mindy Smith

Mindy Smith grew up in Smithtown, Long Island. Her dad was a minister, Her mom was an accomplished singer who led the church choir — and who always encouraged Mindy to follow her interest in music. While she was in college in Cincinnati, Mindy wrote songs and sang in a band. Finally, she decided to make a go of it in Nashville. She arrived with $300 in her pocket and a whole lot of determination. A few years later, she won first prize in the Tin Pan South songwriting contest of 2000. That led to a staff position at the publishing company Big Yellow Dog Music, which allowed her to earn a living writing songs for other people. Mindy’s career really took off after she sang the song "Jolene" for a Dolly Parton tribute album in 2003. The next year, she released her debut album, One Moment More. And she followed that with a CD called Long Island Shores. Mindy is also a gifted painter. She is a bold colorist who does expressive, figurative works. Her latest recording is titled Stupid Love. It was released last month on the Vanguard label.

Andra Suchy

Andra Suchy spent her childhood on a farm near Mandan, North Dakota, the daughter of two talented singers. By the time she was in grade school, she was traveling around, doing concerts and festivals with her family. These days, she sings with several groups in the Twin Cities area — including the all-girl trio The Dollys. She also works as a back-up singer and as a jingle singer on commercials for White Castle, Target, and more. Andra's solo CD is called Patchwork Story.

Peter Ostroushko

Mandolinist Peter Ostroushko grew up listening to tunes played at family get-togethers in the Ukrainian community of northeast Minneapolis. It's the music that provides the basis for many of his compositions. His first recording session was an uncredited mandolin set on Bob Dylan's Blood on the Tracks. Since then, his works have been performed by the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and the Kremlin Chamber Orchestra, among others. Peter's recent CDs include Postcards: Travels with a Great American Radio Show (Red House) and Peter Joins the Circus (Borderland), a collection of Peter's original and arranged music for Circus Juventas, a circus arts school in St. Paul, Minnesota.

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.