Lake Wobegon Loyalty Days - A Recital for Mixed Baritone and Orchestra
"Most Lutherans aren't musicians; they're choir members," saysPrairie Home Companioncreator Garrison Keillor. In "The Young Lutheran's Guide to the Orchestra," he further comments, "Cellists seem like such nice people. The way they put their arms around their instruments, they look like parents at a daycare center, zipping up snowsuits." Such is the droll National Public Radio humor he embodies; listeners either adore or disparage him for his pedestrian slice of Midwestern nostalgia. Here in 1989, in front of a hometown audience with the majestic Minnesota Orchestra, Keillor holds court, bearish baritone intermingling with French horn and strings. He dishes on everything from patriotism to Powdermilk Biscuits to orchestral instruments in the context of Christianity and good Christians, particularly that ever dry hot-dish-eating Lutheran sect in the Minneapolis region. Keillor is like big brother home from college, poking fun at his family upon seeing them with fresh eyes. Delightful.--Paige La Grone