Guest Information

Meryl Streep

Growing up in New Jersey, Meryl Streep wanted to be an opera singer. But while a student at Vassar, she became interested in acting and after graduation she enrolled in the Yale School of Drama. She made her first feature film appearance in "Julia" (1977), and the next year she was nominated for her first Oscar for her role in "The Deer Hunter" (1978). In all, she has been nominated for the Academy Award 13 times, and has won it twice: for "Kramer vs. Kramer" (1979) and "Sophie's Choice" (1982). She has given outstanding performances in many other notable films, including "The French Lieutenant's Woman," "Silkwood," "Out of Africa," "Heartburn," "Ironweed," "Postcards from the Edge," "Dancing at Lughnasa," "Music of the Heart," "The Hours" and "Adaptation." On stage Streep has appeared in the Public Theater's production of "The Seagull" by Anton Chekhov, and this summer, she will play the title role in the Public Theater's presentation of Bertolt Brecht's "Mother Courage and Her Children." In addition to her Academy Award honors, she has won several Emmy Awards (most recently for the HBO production of Tony Kushner's "Angels in America"), numerous People's Choice Awards, the Golden Globe, the New York Film Critics Circle Award, the National Society of Film Critics Award, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award, and a Life Achievement Award presented by the American Film Institute. In 2004, she joined The Culture Project as producer for the staging of Sarah Jones's one-woman show "Bridge and Tunnel." Streep plays one of the singing Johnson Sisters in the Robert Altman film "A Prairie Home Companion," and she appears as a high-powered New York City fashion magazine editor in the recently released movie "The Devil Wears Prada." She will narrate a pair of children's classics-The Velveteen Rabbit and The Night Before Christmas-available soon at Starbucks, and later in general release by Random House Inc.'s Listening Library.

Leon Redbone

You can't miss him: Leon Redbone, in the dark glasses, the white suit, the hat — the one with the great gravelly voice and one-of-a-kind interpretations of classic American song. Since he first gained public attention playing in Toronto folk clubs in the 1970s, he has recorded a dozen-plus albums, his vocals have been heard in numerous TV and radio advertising campaigns, and he was the Snowman in the 2003 movie Elf. But what's his real story? He'd just as soon keep details of his personal life to himself, but this much is certain: Decade after decade, fans keep coming back for more. His recordings include Live (October 26, 1992: The Olympia Theater, Paris France) and Any Time — both on the Rounder label.

Leon Redbone

You can't miss him: Leon Redbone, in the dark glasses, the white suit, the hat — the one with the great gravelly voice and one-of-a-kind interpretations of classic American song. Since he first gained public attention playing in Toronto folk clubs in the 1970s, he has recorded a dozen-plus albums, his vocals have been heard in numerous TV and radio advertising campaigns, and he was the Snowman in the 2003 movie Elf. But what's his real story? He'd just as soon keep details of his personal life to himself, but this much is certain: Decade after decade, fans keep coming back for more. His recordings include Live (October 26, 1992: The Olympia Theater, Paris France) and Any Time — both on the Rounder label.

Leon Redbone

You can't miss him: Leon Redbone, in the dark glasses, the white suit, the hat — the one with the great gravelly voice and one-of-a-kind interpretations of classic American song. Since he first gained public attention playing in Toronto folk clubs in the 1970s, he has recorded a dozen-plus albums, his vocals have been heard in numerous TV and radio advertising campaigns, and he was the Snowman in the 2003 movie Elf. But what's his real story? He'd just as soon keep details of his personal life to himself, but this much is certain: Decade after decade, fans keep coming back for more. His recordings include Live (October 26, 1992: The Olympia Theater, Paris France) and Any Time — both on the Rounder label.

Nashville Bluegrass Band

The Nasvhille Bluegrass Band brings to town it's heavy burden of accolades, awards, critical acclaim, peer approval and storied past, not that we need any of that to enjoy the music or that we think it makes the experience any more fulfilling; but it sure doesn't hurt anything either. We just hope it doesn't bother the musicians that we already know stuff about them before they even get here.

Gordon Bok

Gordon Bok and Cindy Kallet are both from the Eastern seaboard. They began singing occasional concerts together in 1983. In 1996, they recorded a CD together, called Neighbors: Gordon Bok & Cindy Kallet. Gordon Bok grew up in Camden, Maine, and has been singing and playing the guitar since he was a child. He has worked on or near the ocean for most of his life-on ships or in shipyards-and has learned many of his songs from the people who make their living upon the sea. Bok has also designed, built, and played many instruments, although he concentrates mostly on the six- and twelve-stringed guitars and the "cellamba," a bass viol de gamba on a cello body. Bok's latest CD is Gatherings (Timberhead C008, available through Folk Legacy Records). Cindy Kallet took piano and violin lessons when she was a child and began to teach herself guitar at age 11. She lived on Martha's Vineyard after college and played a few concerts there before making an appearance at the 1980 Folk-Legacy Festival in Connecticut, which led to the release of her first album, Working on Wings to Fly, which has recently been released on CD through Folk Legacy Records. Her most recent solo recording is her third, Dreaming Down a Quiet Line (Stone Throw Music, available through Folk Legacy Records). She can also be heard with Ellen Epstein and Michael Cicone on the 1993 recording, Only Human (Overall Music).

Inga Swearingen

Inga Swearingen always loved singing, whether it was with her elementary school choir in San Luis Obispo, California, or performing her own songs in high school, or during her years of voice lessons. But it may have been joining a jazz choir while pursuing her education at Cuesta College that sealed her decision to be a jazz singer. In 2003, after studying with Swiss artist Susanne Abbuehl, she won the Shure Jazz Voice competition at the world-renowned Montreux Jazz Festival. She earned a master's degree in choral conducting from Florida State University, then returned to California, where she now performs, works on recording projects, and teaches at Cuesta College—her old alma mater. Reverie, her latest CD, is on the Rhythome label.

Jaki Byard

Jazz pianist Jaki Byard was born in 1922 near Boston and began taking formal piano lessons when he was eight years old. He had taken only two years of lessons when the Great Depression hit. Almost overnight, Byard's dad moved from candy maker to janitor and young Jaki's piano lessons became too difficult to afford. So Byard experimented on the piano at home, learning tunes by ear and finding his musical inspiration at a local club called Dan Dundee's Deck, where he heard Count Basie, Joe Venuti, Fats Waller, and others. While still in his teens, Byard played his first gig at the club, but it was not an easy performance. The night of his performance, he fell and cut his hand: the wound required six stitches and the hand became increasingly swollen as the evening progressed. Only sheer determination got him through the gig, but it paid off. He worked with all sorts of other bands, all the time saving his money so that he could resume his piano studies. World War II interrupted those plans: he spent five years stationed at an Army base, where he learned to play trombone for the Army band. He performed around Boston during the post-war music boom and then moved on to Canada, playing gigs and studying his first love: the saxophone. Byard was becoming a hot commodity around Boston, and he returned there to find steady piano gigs at local clubs and a tenor-sax spot in Herb Pomeroy's big band. In 1958, he started playing regular engagements in New York: Monday-night sessions at Birdland and a short stint with Maynard Ferguson's band. He left Ferguson's band to play with the legendary bassist and bandleader Charles Mingus, with whom he played for the better part of a decade. Byard has been a teacher since the late '40s; in 1969 he started a long association with Boston's New England Conservatory of Music. He now is on the faculty at Mannes College of Music at the New School for Social Research. His performances are heard on dozens of jazz recordings; his album, Hi-Fly, was just re-released on the Prestige/New Jazz label. Byard performs with The Duke's Men, a group of Ellington-band alumni, performing Ellington classics and original numbers in the spirit of the Duke himself.

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.