This week on A Prairie Home Companion, we're getting ready for next week's Season Opener, Street Dance & Meatloaf Supper with a remix of opening shows from the past few years. Connie Evingson sings "Autumn in St. Paul," Sara Jarosz sings "Song Up in Her Head," and Butch Tompson plays "The Working Man Blues." The Old Crow Medicine Show lives up to their raucous reputation, and we stop by the reference desk at the Herndon County Library to check in on Ruth Harrison. The hangdogs of honky-tonk, Austin's Derailers, sing "Who's Going to Mow Your Grass," and in Lake Wobegon, Dorothy at the Chatterbox Café is raising eyebrows with a new hairdo.

This week on A Prairie Home Companion, a show about and for Lutherans with the St. Olaf Choir singing "The Choral Blues," VocalEssence singing "Sign Up for Church Work," and a celebration of Elim Lutheran Church's 150th anniversary. Plus, Dan Newton with the "Lutheran Polka," Guy Noir helps a Sunday School teacher following a memorable New Year's Eve, and the great actor Charles Keating in a sketch called "Iniquity on the Tundra." And in Lake Wobegon, a review of summer vacations — the historical low point of any good Lutheran's year.

This week on A Prairie Home Companion, it looks like our 1969 Airstream 27' Land Yacht will make it back after all from the first leg of the Summer Love Tour, and directly into overflow parking for our annual live Grandstand show at The Minnesota State Fair. With special guests, California singer-songwriter and fiddler Sara Watkins, Minnesota's perennial blue-ribbon sisters of Soul Jearlyn and Jevetta Steele, plus the magnificent Anoka High School Marching Band. Also with us, The Royal Academy of Radio Actors; Tim Russell, Sue Scott, Tom Keith, and Fred Newman, The Guy's All-Star Shoe Band with Richard Dworsky, and the latest News from Lake Wobegon.

This week on A Prairie Home Companion, highlights from our rich history of Minnesota State Fair Grandstand shows. With Mindy Smith singing Dolly Parton's "Jolene" - Guy Noir provides security at the Bundt Cake Competition, and Pat Donohue sings a song he wrote called "Como Parkin'." In The Lives of the Cowboys, Lefty enters the State Fair Talent Competition against Suzy Bogguss as Ms. Steffie Stouffer, plus perennial Blue Ribbon vocalist Jearlyn Steele sings "Minnesota Woman." Becky Schlegel sings Greg Brown's beautiful tune about a little town in Iowa called "Early." And in Lake Wobegon, the wild grapes are ripe along the East side of the lake and the Schroeder's have set about making their wild grape wine.

This week on A Prairie Home Companion a mix of two shows we did earlier this year from Seattle, Washington with The Wailin' Jennys singing "Bird Song," Pat Donohue with "Red House" by Seattle-born Jimi Hendrix, and in The Lives of the Cowboys, Dusty and Lefty have jobs with "Foam on the Range" coffee. Brandi Carlile sings "Folsom Prison Blues," Nellie McKay celebrates Doris Day and The Henriettas come up from Berkeley, California to sing "Woe Is Me." Plus, Garrison recites a poem by Raymond Carver and in Lake Wobegon, the smell of freshly mown grass becomes Proust's madeleine, conjuring up memories of young love on a summer afternoon.

This week on A Prairie Home Companion, a summer show for dear, sweet mother. Duane is on the receiving end of another dose of smothering mother-love, the Rankin Family sings "Tell My Ma," and mom visits the campsite in an episode of The Lives of the Cowboys. Rich Dworsky sings "Mama Is a Dancing Girl," Robin and Linda Williams sing "Mama's Hungry Eyes" and Walter Bobbie is back as a long-suffering mother for her son Buddy. Plus in Lake Wobegon, tuna hotdish calls a boy home to his mother.

This week on A Prairie Home Companion, a show created by YOU! We've sifted through all of your suggestions of scripts and songs that you'd like to hear again and strung a good bunch of them together for a special compilation program, including tense telephone conversation between Duane and Mom, a song called "Siempre Abuelita" from Tish Hinojosa, Walter Bobbie in a dreamy Thanksgiving script about an escape to a delightful New York restaurant, and E.G. Kight sings "I'm New at This." Plus, an episode of Bob, The Young Artist, Andy Stein and Stuart Duncan with "Big Mon," and a southern-fried episode of Guy Noir, Private Eye. In Lake Wobegon, Leonard Larson — who ran the hardware store in town — left a paper trail of a romance that surprised a lot of folks, including his wife of 47 years.

This week on A Prairie Home Companion a mix of our two January shows from the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco. Sara Watkins plays her ukulele and sings "My Friend," Guy Noir deals with the San Francisco sea lions, Andy Stein plays the "Opera Breakdown," mezzo- soprano Frederica von Stade sings Delibes' "Flower Duet" with a promising young soprano, and tenor Raúl Melo sings Puccini. Plus, Bluesman Elvin Bishop sings "What the Hell Is Going On," The Guy's All-Star Shoe Band plays the "Cable Car Rag," our friend, Scottish balladeer Jean Redpath, sings "Joy of My Heart," and the choral ensemble Chanticleer sings "Aloha Oe." In Lake Wobegon, the story of Myrtle Anderson's plan to embezzle a quarter-million dollars from The First Inqvist State Bank.

This week on A Prairie Home Companion a mix of shows we've done over the past few years from the historic State Theater on Hennepin Avenue in Minneapolis. Jearlyn Steele sings "Something's Got a Hold on Me," Guy Noir confronts and angry mob of Canadians, bluegrass legend Ricky Skaggs pays tribute to Bill Monroe, Cowboy Jack Clement sings an impromptu version of "Good Old Fashioned Drunk," alt-rock heroes Wilco sing "Sky Blue Sky," and a small celebration for J.S. Bach's birthday. Plus, the delightful schoolmarm, Miss Daisy, visits Dusty and Lefty out on the trail, Dakota darling Becky Schlegel sings "Heartaches by the Number," and it was the fishing opener in Lake Wobegon. Conversation in Carl Krepsbach's boat turned to marriage, and you'll hear more about that this week.

This week on A Prairie Home Companion, a show for all the summer readers who are able to recline in a patch of shade and read a book the way it was meant to be read: cover to cover, uninterrupted by life's troubles. In this compilation, Anna Karenina meets up with a good Minnesota boy rather than a brooding, horse-racing Russian, Dave Frishberg sings a song about the 1919 World Series, and the Host recites his version of Ernest Thayer's "Casey at the Bat." Donald Hall chimes in with a reading from F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" - Maria Jette sings Gounoud's "Juliet's Waltz" from his opera "Romeo and Juliet" - and a revisionist version of "Streetcar Named Desire." Plus, The Public Domain Free of Copyright Non-Royalty-Paying Radio Theater presents Hans Christian Anderson's "The Ugly Ducking" - featuring Sue Scott, Tim Russell and Tom Keith. In Lake Wobegon, summertime is the perfect time to read a good book.