Garrison Keillor’s Summer Love Tour

By Tre Martinez
Staff Writer

Garrison Keillor has entertained millions with words both witty and wise, and now he’s taking his act from the air to the stage. “A Prairie Home Companion: Summer Love Tour” will hit the Trollwood Arts’ Imagine Amphitheater in Moorhead this coming Wednesday.

The tour, though not broadcast on the radio, will feature several elements of A Prairie Home Companion. The recurring characters Guy Noir, Dusty and Lefty, and News from Lake Wobegon will perform, joined by show regulars such as sound-effect man Fred Newman, the genre-bending Guy’s All-Star Shoe Band, and Nickel Creek’s Sara Watkins, fiddle player and singer extraordinaire. Of course, the show will be hosted by modern-day ringleader Garrison Keillor, spinning yarns, reciting poetry, and taking audiences on a visit to Lake Wobegon that will surely lift any downtrodden spirit.

Sara Watkins was the fiddler for Grammy-winning trio Nickel Creek before the group went on indefinite hiatus. Her recent solo record, produced by Led Zeppelin bassist and keyboardist John Paul Jones, features a star-studded lineup of backing musicians who have performed with the likes of Tom Petty and Elvis Costello, as well as fellow Nickel Creek members.

Fred Newman is, aside from his sound effects, an actor, author, and musician. He can be seen on the PBS television program Between the Lions, a puppet show to educate children on the values of reading. Still, Newman admits to not being the most astute student at that age: he was once removed from a classroom “by his bottom lip,” not the first time he had been “escorted” out of class.

The Guy’s All Star Shoe Band is a collection of veteran musicians versatile in various genres. Richard Dworsky, band leader and keyboardist, is a composer who writes all of the show’s themes and scores. Guitarist Pat Donahue has been called “one of the greatest fingerpickers in the world today” by guitar legend Chet Atkins. Gary Raynor has the enormous accomplishment of having played bass for Count Basie and Sammy Davis Jr., as well as the Minnesota Klezmer Band. Not to be outdone, drummer Peter Johnson has played alongside Doc Severinsen and Dave Brubeck.

Garrison Keillor is a Minnesota legend. A radio host for four decades and counting, Keillor’s shows are broadcast around the English-speaking world. His most famous show, A Prairie Home Companion, has become something of a staple in both public radio programming and Minnesotan culture, and many of the skits have a distinctly Midwestern feel, if not being explicitly about northern living. Along with his radio talents, Keillor is an accomplished writer, having authored several books and written for The New Yorker and The Atlantic Monthly.

The show will have unique features along with old favorites. The tour focuses on the concept of romantic love, and as such, will feature duets, ballads, stories and other pieces about romance, passion, marriage, and much more. Also, each show will have insights by the entertainers about the specific area they travel to, both serious and hilarious.

This entertainment extravaganza is sure to please both longtime fans of the show and newbies. Be sure not to miss this opportunity to experience this piece of cultural history, present, and future when it comes to your own backyard; 4 million weekly listeners can’t be wrong, after all.

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If You Go

What: Summer Love tour
Where: TrollwoodImagine Amphitheatre
When: Wed, Sept 1, 7:30pm
Info: 218.477.6500