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‘An Evening With Garrison Keillor: A Brand New Retrospective’ Tuesday, April 16, at Holmes Center

Compiled by Jesse Wood

garrison-keillor-800Originally published April 5, 2013. Garrison Keillor is coming to town. On Tuesday, April 16, Keillor will perform ‘An Evening with Garrison Keillor: A Brand New Retrospective’ at the Holmes Convocation Center. The show starts at 8 p.m.

The ASU Office of Arts and Cultural Programs in conjunction with the APPS Heritage Council presents the show that will feature music of the region by local acts The Mountain Home Bluegrass Boys and the Forget-Me-Nots. 

Here is a description of the show on the university’s Performing Arts Series website: “A man at 70 relives the good times — and the music that brings it all back: hymns, jingles, Tchaikovsky, Dvorak, pop tunes, limericks, rock ‘n roll, Beethoven, love sonnets, rags, blues, rousers, with Richard Dworsky, Rob Fisher and Christine DiGiallonardo.”

Tickets for the show cost $38 for the general public; $35 for faculty, staff and seniors; $20 for students and $15 for ASU students. Purchase tickets via phone at 1-800-841-2787 or click here.

About Garrison Keillor

One of America’s most beloved radio hosts and acclaimed humorists, Garrison Keillor was born in 1942 in Anoka, Minnesota, and began his radio career as a freshman at the University of Minnesota, from which he graduated in 1966.

He went to work for Minnesota Public Radio in 1969, and on July 6, 1974, he hosted the first broadcast of A Prairie Home Companion in St. Paul. Today, some 4 million listeners on more than 600 public radio stations coast to coast and beyond tune in to the show each week.

Keillor has been honored with Grammy, ACE, and George Foster Peabody awards, the National Humanities Medal, and election to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His many books include Lake Wobegon Days, The Book of Guys, Pilgrims: A Wobegon Romance, and Guy Noir and the Straight Skinny (Viking). He is the host of the daily program The Writer’s Almanac and the editor of several anthologies of poetry, most recently, Good Poems: American Places (Viking).

In 2006, Keillor played himself in the movie adaptation of his show, a film directed by Robert Altman. In 2007, he opened an independent bookstore, Common Good Books, in St. Paul, where he lives with his wife and daughter. 

Opening Act

The Mountain Home Bluegrass Boys
The Mountain Home Bluegrass Boys are the musical foundation of the concert series Mountain Home Music, which produces a 20-concert season each year in Boone/Blowing Rock, North Carolina.

Band members include:

  • Steve Lewis (banjo)- Two time winner of the Walnut Valley National Banjo Championship in Winnfield, Kansas and winner of the Merelfest Guitar Championship. 
  • Scott Freeman (mandolin and fiddle)-  Winner of the Henderson Festival Mandolin Championship
  • David Johnson (fiddle, guitar, piano, cello, steel guitar, etc.) Twice named National Studio Musician of the year in gospel music (although he plays many styles of music) and a member of the inaugural class of the Blue Ridge Music Hall of Fame.
  • Joe Shannon (harmonica, concertina and hammer dulcimer)- Boone, NC native and is an accomplished writer and storyteller.
  • Josh Scott (bass fiddle)- From nearby Fleetwood, NC

Forget-Me-Nots
The Forget-Me-Nots bring fresh energy to the ageless tradition of Celtic music adding their own compositions and arrangements to the existing lode of musical treasures. The band originated in 2002 but its roots go back to 1999, when the three girls started playing violin at the tender ages of 2, 3 and 4 years old.

Band members include Willa Finck, Maura Shawn Scanlin, and Ledah Finck with David Finck on backup guitar. The girls are classically trained, first with the Suzuki method, then traditionally. They showed an early interest in playing old-time and Celtic fiddle music, which blossomed in the fertile grounds of the North Carolina High Country, an area steeped in Appalachian musical traditions. They have been frequent performers in the area for years, playing at concert series, festivals, fundraisers, weddings, dances, and house parties.

Praise for the Show

“That Mr. Keillor could make salient points about aesthetic universality and the power of sentiment without drawing much attention to the deftness of his feat suggested that he need not ponder retirement just yet.” — The New York Times

“Keillor was exceptional… [the] audience loved the show, and it was a great evening!” —   Stony Brook University 

 “His presentation was fantastic and had the sold-out audience on their feet.” —   The Fulton