It's what you did for us back in MN, your roots and rootings.And then we all sang something like "Nearer My God To thee." Never mind some of us singers. As my dad encouraged me once, "Let the Lord hear your voice. You won't regret it." And that's what you do without any urging. We sang and sounded pretty darn good. "Nearer to God: we were. back then....and still are.
Hello. I recently listened to a replay of one of your recorded shows from 2013, I think it was. Somehow it came to mind that Jason Keillor used to be mentioned in the credits for your show. What happened to him? I assumed he was your son. In your recent stories you only mention your daughter.
Do I have a deal for you. There's a wonderful venue in the town next to Heather Masse's hometown of Lovell, Maine. Ask her about Stone Mountain Arts Center, Brownfield, Maine. It was such a treat to be able to enjoy Heather all through her four years of high school. And I feel you are an old friend, and I thank you for bringing music, joy, nostalgia, gentle humor to me for many years.
Our cousin Glen Rosenbaum introduced me to your PHC on the radio quite a few years ago. I would listen in my car when on the road. When I began receiving your emails I would send particularly poignant ones to him that I thought would interest him. When I read your recent one on performing in Austin, I immediately got ready to send to Glen when it hit me he passed away the day before (2/28). I sent it anyway. Maybe he will read it in the cloud.
"the unexpected friendship of strangers in airports" Mr. Keillor, maybe ten years ago I stood next to you at the Mpls/St. Paul airport. There was no mistake. You were taller than anyone else. You were also Garrison Keillor. No one said anything to you, although I saw a few glance shyly, then look away.
By contrast, a very minor TV celebrity got off my plane in a Salt Lake City layover, and was instantly mobbed. So I think this is a MN thing.
I loved T.B.the Texan's comments re: Kris Kristofferson. Perhaps a little light on the subject of his good character (not knocking that it was formed in Texas). I am from a suburb of San Francisco, and he is a local legend. Not sure how he came to attend the local high school for a time, and made some long term friendships here. When the owner of a beloved local bar passed away a few years ago Kris attended the wake at the bar, as quietly as you could in that situation, and he was neither mobbed nor hounded, just spoken about in terms about what a nice guy he was. As was the bar owner he was there to eulogize. I digress, but maybe a little northern California wine and sunshine and vibes caught up with him, as well as the Texas grit. Just a thought.
Kris Kristofferson was also instrumental in the late, great and dearly beloved Steve Goodman's and John Prine's careers. He was also the male lead in a good old movie, "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore." And lest we forget, he was a Rhodes Scholar, was he not and, always surprisingly, a veteran of military service, if I recall correctly (no guarantee of that!)
Many comments about Texas and friendliness. My experience is that there is only one thing all Texans agree on, and that is that Austin is not Texas. Just saying!!
Seeking enlightenment from the grunge of Faubus" Arkansas in 1961 I decided to enroll at the U for graduate work. Prof Ed Gerald of the journalism dept sugged that I take a course from/with Mulford Q. Sibley in political science. Scales fell frm by eyes. I remember the first day of class he wore a red tie and said that he was a Socialist. I don't recall any groans from the class. It was indeed a challenging course. I worked hard and made an A. And what an enlightenment the city and the U -- two radio stations broadcasting classical music! I'm ever grateful. (1961, you may note. He must be pretty old. That's true: 97 next week).
Dear Don Paul, I'll give you Kassebaum and MAYBE Bob Dole, but Sam Brownback was largely ineffective as a senator, and he almost destroyed the state with his horrible economic and fiscal policies as the worst governor in Kansas history. I'd take him off your list of I were you. - Phil Yearout
Now that you are celebrating the 50th anniversary of A Prairie Home Companion, I thought I would write to you before it´s too late, about something I have been thinking about for half a century. I was born and raised in St. Paul. Some fifty years ago my friends Aileen and Bruce got me to come along with them in Bruce´s clunker car with no snow tires, during a blizzard, to a studio in downtown St. Paul to a live broadcast of your nascent radio show. About 10 people showed up in the blizzard to sit on some folding chairs.
After the show Bruce´s clunker car was of course stuck in deep snow, and as the nice Minnesotan you are, you helped, with much effort, to push it out onto the single navigable track on Wabasha.
I (forgettable) ran into you later at friends` houses in St.Paul, and you were always generous and nice, once driving me home, on your way downtown to work on your show in the middle of the night.
Once in a great while an artist comes along and points out something that was right in front of our eyes, but we never saw. “Oh my! Maybe a life lived in the Midwest is not painfully unremarkable, but is actually, poignant, hilarious and even tender.” A permanent shift of perception occurred, and millions were irrevocably touched by it. You were (and are) a genuine star.
Anyway, way back then, a friend and schoolmate of mine proudly told me he had been hired as some sort of manager for you. My friend´s wagon was hitched to a star and his career was on its way to great heights, he seemed to think. After about two weeks you figured he was not a good fit for your vision of your radio show. His wagon got abruptly and completely unhitched. My friend, abruptly, no longer thought you were a nice person.
My lingering question for the past half century: did this happen a lot? I mean your unique artistic vision having to steer the trajectory of this now historic American radio show and you sometimes having to unhitch the wagons of aspiring creative collaborators, who, unhitched, soured intensely (maybe even vindictively) on you? There, I´ve finally asked it.
As a fellow New Yorker, I love your response to TB. The subway is indeed the heart and soul, the lifeblood, of our city. Due to health problems, I can no longer use the subway, and I miss it terribly.
I very much enjoyed the 50th anniversary show. I made a couple of CDs that I listen to in my car. The video that we watched live had some glitches and they also were in the version posted for subscribers on the producer’s website. I would be curious to know if any other viewers saw that reduced video quality. I think you started the show before it got to NPR. What year did it get to NPR?
My husband and I have seen Garrison Keillor and Prairie Home Companion twice in San Francisco. Both shows were sold out.
At the last show I remember, David Crosby was supposed to be a guest. His plane was delayed, and he couldn’t make it. A last minute replacement was a young piano student from the San Francisco Music Conservatory. The audience appreciated her performance, and applauded loudly.
I am sad that Garrison Keillor doesn’t remember performing before his enthusiastic San Francisco fans, and was so dismissive of a request to appear here again. Why?
It's what you did for us back in MN, your roots and rootings.And then we all sang something like "Nearer My God To thee." Never mind some of us singers. As my dad encouraged me once, "Let the Lord hear your voice. You won't regret it." And that's what you do without any urging. We sang and sounded pretty darn good. "Nearer to God: we were. back then....and still are.
Hello. I recently listened to a replay of one of your recorded shows from 2013, I think it was. Somehow it came to mind that Jason Keillor used to be mentioned in the credits for your show. What happened to him? I assumed he was your son. In your recent stories you only mention your daughter.
Jason Keillor (born 1969) is his son, with the late Mary Constance (Guntzel) Keillor (1944-1998). (They married in 1965/ divorced in 1976.)
As recently as October 7, 2023, Garrison added his son's name on his Substack entitled, "Marriage is a Game, and Two can Play It":
Jason Keillor is credited as Engineer, and Original Music contributor.
Do I have a deal for you. There's a wonderful venue in the town next to Heather Masse's hometown of Lovell, Maine. Ask her about Stone Mountain Arts Center, Brownfield, Maine. It was such a treat to be able to enjoy Heather all through her four years of high school. And I feel you are an old friend, and I thank you for bringing music, joy, nostalgia, gentle humor to me for many years.
Our cousin Glen Rosenbaum introduced me to your PHC on the radio quite a few years ago. I would listen in my car when on the road. When I began receiving your emails I would send particularly poignant ones to him that I thought would interest him. When I read your recent one on performing in Austin, I immediately got ready to send to Glen when it hit me he passed away the day before (2/28). I sent it anyway. Maybe he will read it in the cloud.
Kathie Moeller, New Ulm Texas
"the unexpected friendship of strangers in airports" Mr. Keillor, maybe ten years ago I stood next to you at the Mpls/St. Paul airport. There was no mistake. You were taller than anyone else. You were also Garrison Keillor. No one said anything to you, although I saw a few glance shyly, then look away.
By contrast, a very minor TV celebrity got off my plane in a Salt Lake City layover, and was instantly mobbed. So I think this is a MN thing.
I loved T.B.the Texan's comments re: Kris Kristofferson. Perhaps a little light on the subject of his good character (not knocking that it was formed in Texas). I am from a suburb of San Francisco, and he is a local legend. Not sure how he came to attend the local high school for a time, and made some long term friendships here. When the owner of a beloved local bar passed away a few years ago Kris attended the wake at the bar, as quietly as you could in that situation, and he was neither mobbed nor hounded, just spoken about in terms about what a nice guy he was. As was the bar owner he was there to eulogize. I digress, but maybe a little northern California wine and sunshine and vibes caught up with him, as well as the Texas grit. Just a thought.
Kris Kristofferson was also instrumental in the late, great and dearly beloved Steve Goodman's and John Prine's careers. He was also the male lead in a good old movie, "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore." And lest we forget, he was a Rhodes Scholar, was he not and, always surprisingly, a veteran of military service, if I recall correctly (no guarantee of that!)
Many comments about Texas and friendliness. My experience is that there is only one thing all Texans agree on, and that is that Austin is not Texas. Just saying!!
Seeking enlightenment from the grunge of Faubus" Arkansas in 1961 I decided to enroll at the U for graduate work. Prof Ed Gerald of the journalism dept sugged that I take a course from/with Mulford Q. Sibley in political science. Scales fell frm by eyes. I remember the first day of class he wore a red tie and said that he was a Socialist. I don't recall any groans from the class. It was indeed a challenging course. I worked hard and made an A. And what an enlightenment the city and the U -- two radio stations broadcasting classical music! I'm ever grateful. (1961, you may note. He must be pretty old. That's true: 97 next week).
John Webster
Dear Don Paul, I'll give you Kassebaum and MAYBE Bob Dole, but Sam Brownback was largely ineffective as a senator, and he almost destroyed the state with his horrible economic and fiscal policies as the worst governor in Kansas history. I'd take him off your list of I were you. - Phil Yearout
Now that you are celebrating the 50th anniversary of A Prairie Home Companion, I thought I would write to you before it´s too late, about something I have been thinking about for half a century. I was born and raised in St. Paul. Some fifty years ago my friends Aileen and Bruce got me to come along with them in Bruce´s clunker car with no snow tires, during a blizzard, to a studio in downtown St. Paul to a live broadcast of your nascent radio show. About 10 people showed up in the blizzard to sit on some folding chairs.
After the show Bruce´s clunker car was of course stuck in deep snow, and as the nice Minnesotan you are, you helped, with much effort, to push it out onto the single navigable track on Wabasha.
I (forgettable) ran into you later at friends` houses in St.Paul, and you were always generous and nice, once driving me home, on your way downtown to work on your show in the middle of the night.
Once in a great while an artist comes along and points out something that was right in front of our eyes, but we never saw. “Oh my! Maybe a life lived in the Midwest is not painfully unremarkable, but is actually, poignant, hilarious and even tender.” A permanent shift of perception occurred, and millions were irrevocably touched by it. You were (and are) a genuine star.
Anyway, way back then, a friend and schoolmate of mine proudly told me he had been hired as some sort of manager for you. My friend´s wagon was hitched to a star and his career was on its way to great heights, he seemed to think. After about two weeks you figured he was not a good fit for your vision of your radio show. His wagon got abruptly and completely unhitched. My friend, abruptly, no longer thought you were a nice person.
My lingering question for the past half century: did this happen a lot? I mean your unique artistic vision having to steer the trajectory of this now historic American radio show and you sometimes having to unhitch the wagons of aspiring creative collaborators, who, unhitched, soured intensely (maybe even vindictively) on you? There, I´ve finally asked it.
Glad you are having a happy life out East.
Tim Platt
I hope your heart feels happy and full knowing how much you are loved .
As a fellow New Yorker, I love your response to TB. The subway is indeed the heart and soul, the lifeblood, of our city. Due to health problems, I can no longer use the subway, and I miss it terribly.
I very much enjoyed the 50th anniversary show. I made a couple of CDs that I listen to in my car. The video that we watched live had some glitches and they also were in the version posted for subscribers on the producer’s website. I would be curious to know if any other viewers saw that reduced video quality. I think you started the show before it got to NPR. What year did it get to NPR?
My husband and I have seen Garrison Keillor and Prairie Home Companion twice in San Francisco. Both shows were sold out.
At the last show I remember, David Crosby was supposed to be a guest. His plane was delayed, and he couldn’t make it. A last minute replacement was a young piano student from the San Francisco Music Conservatory. The audience appreciated her performance, and applauded loudly.
I am sad that Garrison Keillor doesn’t remember performing before his enthusiastic San Francisco fans, and was so dismissive of a request to appear here again. Why?
Donna Hayes
San Francisco