This week on A Prairie Home Companion, with the cast and crew sequestered up at Camp Leonard for a winter survival driving refresher, we offer up a special fall compilation all about hunting, harvesting, and hard frosts. Inga Swearingen sings the "Lullaby of Leaves", the Nashville Bluegrass Band performs "Let The Harvest Go To Seed", and we'll uncover the real reasons men go deer hunting. Studs Terkel makes a guest appearance as the Piquant, Iowa police chief in an episode of The Lives of the Cowboys, as Dusty and Lefty are stuck picking unwanted particles from pumpkin pie filling at the local pie factory. Chuck Suchy sings "Molly's Field" - Stephanie Davis sings her "Harvest Blues" - and Jaki Bayard performs a beautiful version of "Autumn in New York." And in Lake Wobegon, Eric Tollerud takes his 250-pound pumpkin to Canada for a big contest. Also with us, The Royal Academy of Radio Acting; Sue Scott, Tim Russell, and Tom Keith, The Guy's All-Star Shoe Band with Richard Dworsky, and much more.

This week on A Prairie Home Companion, we mark All Saints' Day with a special Halloween sampler. The bloodthirsty un-dead are lined up for our Annual Vampire Amateur Singing Contest, Guy Noir goes trick-or-treating, and we dust off the enormous "Songbook Of Death" for a few favorites. Maria Jette sings Mozart's little-known Halloween aria, and we'll check on everyone's favorite delusional basement dweller, Larry. So check the batteries in your flashlight, be generous with the candy, and never stomp on a burning paper bag left on your doorstep. It's willowy figures in white, a squawking raven, and other creepy characters, this week on A Prairie Home Companion.

This week on A Prairie Home Companion, we'll roll down the Great Wagon Road for our show at Ovens Auditorium in Charlotte, North Carolina. With special guests, legendary blues singer Nappy Brown, big time country artist Suzy Bogguss, prodigious ragtime pianist Ethan Uslan, and national banjo champion Charles Wood. Also with us, The Royal Academy of Radio Acting; Tim Russell, Sue Scott, and Fred Newman, The Guy's All-Star Shoe Band with fiddler Stuart Duncan, and the News from Lake Wobegon.

This week on A Prairie Home Companion, we begin our fall tour with a visit to the Hippodrome Theater in Baltimore, Maryland. With special guests, legendary songwriter-singer Carole King, barrelhouse blues-woman Deanna Bogart and her band, D.C. bluegrass pickers John Starling and Mike Auldridge, and gospel singer Jearlyn Steele. Also with us, the Royal Academy of Radio Acting; Tim Russell, Sue Scott, and Fred Newman, The Guy's All-Star Shoe Band with maestro Rich Dworsky, and The News from Lake Wobegon, live this week on A Prairie Home Companion.

This week on A Prairie Home Companion, some of us may be feeling the chilling melancholy of a long winter ahead, so we invited hot jazz singer Inga Swearingen, soulful steel guitarist Cindy Cashdollar, sweet soul singer Jearlyn Steele, and improv-jazz drummer J.T. Bates to mix up some new colors for fall. Also with us, the Royal Academy of Radio Acting; Tim Russell, Sue Scott, and Tom Keith, The Guy's All-Star Shoe Band with fifth shoe Andy Stein, and The News From Lake Wobegon. So join us this week on your local public radio station for A Prairie Home Companion, live from the Fitzgerald Theater.

This week on A Prairie Home Companion, we must've been using just the right bait and tackle, because we've landed some big ones for Saturday's live broadcast from the Fitzgerald Theater, including the one who taught us you have to be cruel to be kind, Nick Lowe, the greatest television president of the 21st century, actor Martin Sheen, and the honky-tonk band that keeps Hank William's foot tapping in the grave, BR549 (Chuck Mead, Mark Miller, Chris Scruggs, and Shaw Wilson). Also with us, the otherworldly operatic voice of Maria Jette, the Royal Academy of Radio Acting; Tim Russell, Sue Scott, and Tom Keith, The Guy's All-Star Shoe Band with Rich Dworsky, and The News from Lake Wobegon. Join us this week on your local public radio station for an all-new installment of A Prairie Home Companion.

This week on A Prairie Home Companion, after a glorious, almost perfect street dance and meatloaf supper, we'll be back at the Fitzgerald Theater broadcasting live with Montana's master singer-songwriter Stephanie Davis, red hot fiddler and mandolin picker Stuart Duncan, and more True Vine music from Mike Seeger. Becky Schlegel and Brian Fesler are on the bill too. Also with us, the Royal Academy of Radio Acting; Tim Russell, Sue Scott, and Tom Keith, The Guy's All-Star Shoe Band with maestro Richard Dworsky, and The News from Lake Wobegon. Join us this week, and take the opportunity to start de-pilling your wool sweaters and socks, before the weather really changes.

This week on A Prairie Home Companion, it's our season kick-off event at the Fitzgerald Theater, featuring Austin's hangdogs of honky tonk The Derailers, Nashville's hardest working dobro player Jerry Douglas, and the Virginia Vagabonds Robin and Linda Williams. Also with us, Prudence Johnson, Rich Dworsky and The Guy's-All Star Shoe Band, and the Royal Academy of Radio Acting; Tim Russell, Sue Scott, and Tom Keith.

This week on A Prairie Home Companion: As we prepare the hay bales, the outdoor stage, and the mountains of meatloaf for next week's season opener and street dance at the Fitzgerald Theater, we bring you a special back-to-school rebroadcast compilation. With fight songs, pep bands, and Latin lessons, we cheer the return to academic life. Bob Dorough sings "3 is a Magic Number," Kate MacKenzie sings the old Carter Family song "Schoolhouse on the Hill," and at Lake Wobegon High School, Ms. Lewis retires from teaching English after 55 years. It's all about school this week, so please remember your number two pencils and spiral bound notebooks. There will be a quiz.

Coming up this week on A Prairie Home Companion, it's Labor Day and we're coming to you from the grandstand of the Minnesota State Fair. The cast and crew are back from the summer break and are trolling the fairgrounds for this year's best cheese curds and fries and cold beverages. Songstress Patty Griffin will be along for the ride, as will the magnificent Jearlyn Steele. She'll be heating things up with her black-coffee style and to sweeten the drink, she'll be backed by "The Hornheads" (yes, that's right): a raucous bunch of local brass players who will be sitting in with Rich Dworsky and The Guy's All-Star Shoe Band. We'll fill you in on the blue ribbon winners, talk about buttery sculptures, sing the Star Spangled Banner in the Key of G, send rockets into the air and make you wish you were there for our last hurrah of summer.