Turning the Horses Loose in Montana

featuring Stephanie Davis, Prudence Johnson, and Growling Old Men

A Prairie Home Companion returns to the Ryman Auditorium

A Prairie Home Companion will return to the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, TN, to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the radio show. Garrison originally got the idea for a Midwestern version of the Opry while writing a piece for The New Yorker about the Grand Ole Opry’s final show at the “Mother Church of Country Music” in 1974. A Prairie Home Companion and the Ryman have shared many other connections during the past 50 years, including being the first show to reopen the renovated Ryman in 1994, plus a LIVE PBS Great Performances show on New Year’s Eve and an almost annual live broadcast of the show from the famed venue. We can’t wait to stage A Prairie Home Companion on this historic stage one more time!

Once again, there’ll be humor, music, no end of fun, and, of course, all the latest News from Lake Wobegon. Everything you loved about the old show, including favorite sponsors, sketches, and songs.

On January 11, Garrison and his rollicking troupe will be at the historic Ryman. Joining them are singers Heather Masse and Christine DiGiallonardo, mandolin ace Sam Bush, fiddle maestro Stuart Duncan, and others. The Royal Academy of Actors (Tim Russell, Sue Scott, and sound-effects wizard Fred Newman) will be there, along with music director/keyboardist Richard Dworsky leading the band. What a show!

SPECIAL PRESALE: September 27 at 10:00 a.m. to September 28 at 10:00 p.m. PASSWORD: PRAIRIE50 GENERAL ONSALE: September 29 10:00 a.m.

GET TICKETS to the January 11, 2024, show

This show is part of our upcoming series of EVENTS — Garrison performing solo or in concert with others, along with 50th Anniversary performances in New York City, Manhattan, Kansas, Galveston, Texas, and Akron, OH.

VIEW ALL EVENTS

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Listen to the September 30, 2006 Show

This week, we trek out west to Montana, land of ponderosa pines, blackspotted cutthroat trout, and grizzly gears the size of compact cars. The classic show features Montana singer-songwriter Stephanie Davis, acoustic duo Growling Old Men, singer Prudence Johnson, and sitting in with the Guy's All-Star Shoe Band, Andy Stein and Peter Ostroushko. Also with us, the Royal Academy of Radio Acting: Tim Russell, Sue Scott, and Fred Newman. Join us this Saturday from Big Sky Country, where we'll turn the horses loose, “... ’cause you can’t ride ’em in the chute!”

Highlights include the two Peter Ostroushko favorites, “Coming Down from Red Lodge” and “Montana”; a Rolling Stones sing-along; “Sarah Hogan” and “Madison Brown” from the Growling Old Men; Stephanie Davis and Prudence Johnson with their take on “Hittin’ the Trail Tonight”; plus a Radio Rodeo, Ketchup, the Cowboys, Guy Noir, and the News from Lake Wobegon. Here’s the link to listen. Otherwise it posts to our social media accounts on Saturday at 5 p.m. CT.

The Growling Old Men

John Lowell (guitar) and Ben Winship (mandolin), with Dave Thompson (bass), call themselves Growling Old Men — taking their name from the old-time fiddle tune “Growling Old Man, Grumbling Old Woman.” They’ve been key players in the Montana/Idaho music scene for a couple of decades. Winship, who took second place in the 1989 National Mandolin Championships, was a founding member of the bluegrass band Loose Ties. Lowell is a veteran of some of the region’s best bluegrass groups, including Wheel Hoss and Deep River. The three currently work together in Kane’s River, described by one reviewer as “among the brightest of a new generation of bluegrass bands.”

Stephanie Davis

In a circa 1900 one-room homestead cabin — a building on her ranch in south-central Montana — Stephanie Davis composed and recorded songs that reflected her life in Big Sky Country. Back when, she spent a couple of years in Nashville, writing songs for the likes of Garth Brooks, Roger Whittaker, Martina McBride and Shelby Lynne. But there's no place like her home state of Montana—where her family has lived for four generations—and Stephanie is the first to tell you, daily ranch life provides constant inspiration. She still writes and records, now from her home in Austin, Texas.

Prudence Johnson

That silky alto and striking style—you’d expect to find Prudence Johnson singing at a high-tone nightspot. And you might. But be it a concert hall, the silver screen, a little jazz club or A Prairie Home Companion, Pru is the perfect complement. Her dozen-plus album releases include Little Dreamer, a collection of international lullabies, Moon Country, which features the music of Hoagy Carmichael, and S’Gershwin, a collaboration with pianist Dan Chouinard.

Here are the lyrics to “Mountain Song” from this featured classic show.

I come from the prairie, from even terrain,
It’s lovely, that’s why they call it Great Plains.
You can see a car coming twenty miles away
So you’re able to think up something to say.

It was flat as a table, and straight as a ruler,
And then I came to the town of Missoula
Surrounded by mountains hulking nearby,
Dark jagged mountains interrupting the sky.

It makes a man nervous, I shudder, I twitch,
It feels like I have fallen in a ditch.
To look up at boulders fills me with fear
That they might loosen and tumble down here.

And that’s why I’m living on this mountain top
On a plateau with a thousand-foot drop.
I live in a cave high above the trees
With a view of three hundred sixty degrees.

They call me a mystic, but I just want to see
The horizon and not have it be next to me.
And on a clear day in the late fall
I can see all the way to my home in St. Paul.

Cheerfulness by Garrison Keillor

In Cheerfulness, veteran radio host and author Garrison Keillor reflects on a simple virtue that can help us in this stressful and sometimes gloomy era. Drawing on personal anecdotes from his young adulthood into his eighties, Keillor sheds light on the immense good that can come from a deliberate work ethic and a buoyant demeanor. “Adopting cheerfulness as a strategy does not mean closing your eyes to evil,” he tells us; “it means resisting our drift toward compulsive dread and despond.” Funny, poignant, thought-provoking, and whimsical, this is a book that will inspire you to choose cheerfulness in your daily life. Get the book.

Also available, a downloadable version of the book read by the author. Get some “cheerful” advice directly from Garrison himself! Get the download.

A collection of eight different cards with envelopes are available with short passages from the book, so that you can send a bit of cheer to your friends and relatives. Get the book and cards and a discount will be taken off in the shopping cart. Get the cards.

The Best of Guy Noir (5-CD collection)

A bounty of cases waiting to be solved by America’s favorite private detective. The collector’s edition gathers every previously released Guy Noir episode and includes a full CD of never-before-available capers, including this escapade featuring the multitalented Prudence Johnson (who also appears on this week’s classic program). Get the CDs or download.

50th Anniversary Mug

Handcrafted by artisans from Deneen Pottery to mark Garrison Keillor’s final year as host of A Prairie Home Companion, these stoneware mugs are stunningly beautiful and one of a kind. Each mug is molded in pieces and then assembled and fired. The medallion features the house that sits at the back of the stage during most live performances. Each mug holds 14 ounces. Get the mug. Available in black and red.