The Cold Hard Facts
hosted by Garrison Keillor
Show #1559July 16, 2016
From Fitzgerald Theater | Saint Paul, MN
0:00 | 01:58:59
The Del McCoury Band
Leo Kottke
This week: our second summer rebroadcast, originally from October 1997 at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul, Minnesota. Bluegrass stalwarts The Del McCoury Band make their first appearance on our show and heat up the Fitz with "Baltimore Johnny" and "Love is a Long Road"; guitar hero Leo Kottke puts on a veritable six-string clinic, including his tune "Regards from Chuck Pink" and The Byrds "Eight Miles High"; and the Cowboys, Dusty and Lefty, find themselves imprisoned, accused of rustling forty-three hundred head of longhorns. Plus: music from The Guy's All-Star Shoe Band, and a word from Swanson's Self Storage and our other sponsors. In Lake Wobegon, Earl Dickmeyer builds The World's Largest Pile of Burlap Bags, which attracts international acclaim.
Read notes from Rich Dworsky and Sue Scott about this week's rebroadcast
Rich Dworsky:
This week's repeat show features the original lineup of the Guy's All-Star Shoe Band - a unique band assembled by Garrison in 1993, featuring an assortment of players from different backgrounds. Greg Hippen, on bass, is a fine classical player who also delves into jazz and fusion. Drummer Arnie Kinsella specializes in jazz from the 1920s and '30s. Guitarist Pat Donohue is a master fingerpicker, playing blues and country blues in the styles of Mississippi John Hurt, Reverend Gary Davis, and Chet Atkins. Andy Stein, who plays the rare combination of violin and saxophone, is thoroughly immersed in the jazz of the '20s and '30s, and specializes in the style of the great violinist Joe Venuti. I rounded out the group, playing piano, Hammond organ, and synthesizer. I have a classical background, played in jazz and rock bands, composed and conducted for theater, and worked for decades in the studio, where one has to play every imaginable style. I would also write original works for the band, keeping in mind what each player would bring to the table. We rarely used the band's official name and usually shortened it to "The Shoe Band" or just "The Shoes." It even became a verb: If we wanted to take a piece of music and put a foot-stomping, two-beat, raucous, bluesy groove to it, we'd just say, "Let's Shoe it."Sue Scott:
It's so much fun to hear my buddy Tom Keith's voice in this show from October of 1997! Tom was a sound-effects wizard, absolutely, but an incredibly funny and talented actor, too! His character choices and sense of timing never ceased to make me laugh out loud. In the sketch "Underwear," Garrison's Carson has just learned that he has been relieved of his duties as a public radio underwear model. He has to give up his mansion on the hill along with his loyal butler, Nigel. Tom's Nigel is spot on! During the sketch, "Force Ten Wake-Up System," we hear some of Tom's classic sound effects. What a treat to revisit this master talent who left us way too soon.
Del McCoury
The Del McCoury Band is led by Del McCoury, who's been playing bluegrass for more than four decades. McCoury spent most of his youth in York County, Pennsylvania, and learned music from his mother Hazel, a church organist who also played guitar, piano, and harmonica. In his teenage years, he and his older brother played together in a church quartet. That led Del to a job picking banjo for a local bluegrass band that played on a Pennsylvania radio station, which led to appearances in the late '50s and early '60s with groups like the Blue Ridge Ramblers and the Virginia Playboys. It wasn't long before he met Bill Monroe, the father of bluegrass, who asked McCoury to play in his band, The Blue Grass Boys. McCoury played guitar and sang lead vocals with The Blue Grass Boys and traveled with them for a year before quitting the band and getting married. McCoury ended up back in Pennsylvania, working at a sawmill and playing music on weekends. As his boys got older, they began playing with their dad in his band. Ronnie joined the band in 1981 and Rob followed in 1987. In the early '90s, this five-person band was formed. The same group has been playing together ever since: Del McCoury (guitar), Ronnie McCoury (mandolin), Rob McCoury (banjo), Mike Bub (bass), and Jason Carter (fiddle). The Del McCoury Band was named Entertainers of the Year in 1994 by the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA), which made history in 1996 by nominating each one of the five band members for individual awards. Their latest recording is Grammy-nominated The Cold Hard Facts (Rounder Records).Leo Kottke
With his quick wit and astounding virtuosity, guitarist Leo Kottke has amassed a huge and loyal following since making his debut album in 1969: 12-String Blues, recorded live at the Scholar coffeehouse in Minneapolis. Then came major-label releases Mudlark and the seminal 6- and 12-String Guitar, which has been reissued on CD three times since it first came out in the early 1970s. Among his dozens of albums are Try and Stop Me and Sixty Six Steps, a collaboration with Phish bassist Mike Gordon.Garrison Keillor
Garrison Keillor was born in 1942 in Anoka, Minnesota. 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. He is the host of The Writer's Almanac and the editor of the Good Poems series of anthologies from Viking.The Guy's All-Star Shoe Band - October 18, 1997
Richard Dworsky Keyboardist, composer, and arranger Richard Dworsky is APHC's music director. He leads the band, composes themes, improvises script underscores, and collaborates with such diverse guests as Yo-Yo Ma, James Taylor, Brad Paisley, Kristin Chenoweth, and Sheryl Crow. He has provided music for documentaries on HBO and PBS, and has released many recordings of original material, including his latest, All In Due Time. Pat Donohue Chet Atkins called Pat Donohue (guitar) one of the greatest fingerpickers in the world today. And he writes songs too - recorded by Suzy Bogguss, Kenny Rogers, and others. Blue Yonder (Bluesky Records) is the most recent of Pat's 11 albums. Greg Hippen, bass Arnie Kinsella Arnie Kinsella hails from Staten Island, and holds a B.A. in percussion performance from Brooklyn College. In addition to his tenure on A Prairie Home Companion, he has performed with Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks, and has recorded and performed with The Manhattan Rhythm Kings, and Leon Redbone. Andy Stein Andy Stein (violin, saxophone) definitely has far-flung musical leanings. He collaborated with Garrison Keillor to create the opera Mr. and Mrs. Olson, and he has performed with artists such as Itzhak Perlman, Eric Clapton, Smashing Pumpkins, Billy Joel, Tony Bennett, Ray Charles, and Bob Dylan.Tim Russell
One minute he's mild-mannered Tim Russell; the next he's George Bush or Julia Child or Barack Obama. We've yet to stump this man of many voices. Says fellow APHC actor Sue Scott, "He does a better Ira Glass than Ira Glass." A well-known Twin Cities radio personality and voice actor, Tim appeared in the Robert Altman film A Prairie Home Companion and the Coen brothers' A Serious Man. Tim has also been reviewing films professionally for over 10 years.Sue Scott
On APHC, Sue Scott plays everything from ditzy teenagers to Guy Noir stunners to leathery crones who've smoked one pack of Camel straights too many. The Tucson, Arizona, native is well known for her extensive commercial and voice-over work on radio and television, as well as stage and movie roles, including the part of "Donna" in Robert Altman's A Prairie Home Companion.Tom Keith
Is that water dripping? Footsteps coming this way? Car tires spinning on an icy driveway? Nope - it's sound effects wizard Tom Keith. With vocal gymnastics and a variety of props, Tom worked his magic on A Prairie Home Companion from the mid-1970s until his passing in 2011.