Boom Town: A Lake Wobegon Novel “Wonderfully over-the-top. Blisteringly funny, acute and true. Keillor’s speaking to us with encouragement and empathy about the American life. But at the same time, he’s got our number that way he’s always had it. This book is a tonic.” —Richard Ford
Boom Town has finally arrived! You’ve heard about it, read about it, and now you can finally get it, wherever you buy your books. It’s Garrison’s return to the “little town that time forgot and decades could not improve,” but upon his arrival, he finds things have indeed changed.
Lake Wobegon is having a boom year thanks to millennial entrepreneurship — AuntMildred’s.com Gourmet Meatloaf, for example, or Universal Fire, makers of artisanal firewood seasoned with sea salt. Meanwhile, the author flies in to give eulogies at the funerals of five classmates, including a couple whom he disliked, and he finds a wave of narcissism crashing on the rocks of Lutheran stoicism. He is restored by the humor and grace of his old girlfriend Arlene and a visit from his wife, Giselle, who arrives from New York for a big love scene in an old lake cabin. Read the first chapter >>> Boom Town is available wherever books are sold. Autographed copies are available on our website. Get a signed copy >>>
Download a Kindle copy >>>
Listen via Audible >>> |
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Forget about nutcases, let's talk about what's real The world is treacherous, my darlings, and if some ambitious person were to interview everyone who ever knew you for ten minutes or more and offered them anonymity, he could paint a bleak picture of you that you wouldn’t recognize. There’s a lot of gossip and envy and animosity out there, don’t kid yourself, so all the more reason to hold fast to your friends. These people are crucial. In high school I wanted to hang out with cool people, but coolness evaporates in your twenties or whenever you beget children, and eventually you come to know who your friends are, they’re people who share a secret language with you....
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Featured A Prairie Home Companion Show: This week we bring you a show from the historic Town Hall in New York City, with our guests: from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, American folk and blues singer Tom Rush; master pianist Shai Wosner; and bluegrass wonder Sarah Jarosz. Also along for the ride are the Royal Academy of Radio Actors (Tim Russell, Sue Scott, and SFX man Mr. Fred Newman); Rich Dworsky and The Guy’s All-Star Shoe Band; and the latest News from Lake Wobegon. Listen to the show >>>
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More Information About our featured guests:
Sarah Jarosz is a gifted multi-instrumentalist (mandolin, octave mandolin, guitar, banjo), an expressive vocalist, and an accomplished songwriter. This New England Conservatory of Music grad has carved out a solid niche where contemporary folk, Americana, and roots music intersect. She is a multiple Grammy Award winner and also records with the trio I’m with Her.
Listen to “Hometown” >>>
James Taylor once told a reporter that Tom Rush ”was not only one of my early heroes, but also one of my main influences.” Lots of artists could say the same. Rush has had a profound impact on American music ever since his early days on the 1960s Boston/Cambridge coffeehouse scene, where he began performing while he was an English lit student at Harvard. He made his first record, Tom Rush at the Unicorn, in 1962. His most recent, Voices, was released in 2018.
Listen to “No Regrets” >>> Pianist Shai Wosner has performed a wide-ranging repertoire with major orchestras worldwide, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Staatskapelle Berlin, and the Vienna Philharmonic. Born and raised in Israel, he began his music education at an early age. In the late 1990s, he moved to New York and continued his studies at the Juilliard School with Emanuel Ax. His recordings include Schubert Piano Sonatas, released in 2020 on the Onyx label.
Listen to snippets of Beethoven as Wosner shares a bit of “a day in the life of the artist during quarantine” >>>
Spring is in the air. It’s April so what can you expect? Here are the lyrics to a little ode to the season that Garrison called “Beautiful.” Tune in to the classic show on Saturday to hear the full song performed.
Beautiful (lyrics)
It is so beautiful
O it is beautiful
A beautiful day
When you can walk outdoors without a coat
It is so beautiful
O it is beautiful
That note you wrote
That says, I love you, quote unquote
It made me fly, it made me float
On the street the smell of fresh dirt
The grass now starts to smell like grass
The laundry with the piles of clean shirts
And the blue sky reflected in the window glass
The door is open to the pizza place
Smell of coffee from the coffee shop
The sun shines in every face
The delivery boy, cabdriver, newsstand guy, the corner cop
This was the winter we didn’t die
Weren’t hit by a truck, house didn’t burn down
And now the sun is in the sky
Waking up the tulips in this part of town
It is so beautiful
O it is beautiful
A beautiful day
When I can sit outside and look at you
You are beautiful
O beautiful
Shakespeare knew that spring is racing through
And summer too
The dappled day of flower and grass and leaf
Is beautiful and alas so brief
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Garrison Keillor On TOUR! It’s been a busy week where we have added dates featuring appearances in cities from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, to West Bend, Wisconsin, to Livermore, California. There is something for everyone: a full-on reunion show of A Prairie Home Companion, shows featuring the Hopefuls, a few dates with the Keillor & Company gang featuring Prudence Johnson, and a couple of solo shows. You can expect a mix of poetry, music, and stories, with a Lake Wobegon tale or two thrown in. See you on the road! VIEW ALL UPCOMING SHOWS>>> |
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| The most comprehensive collection of songs and sketches from the archives of A Prairie Home Companion. It’s a who’s who of artists who have graced the stage to perform live on Saturday evenings. From early favorites like the Everly Brothers and Chet Atkins to Los Texmaniacs’ performance in 2014, we’ve chosen more than 87 memorable acts. Also includes one CD of highlights from the weekend-long 40th Anniversary Celebration live from Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota. Listen to a ‘”Bird Song” >>>
Purchase the 40th Anniversary Collection >>> Note: “Bird Song” was written by Heather Masse and she performed it as part of the 40th Anniversary Festival with her group The Wailin’ Jennys. Heather will be at Red Rocks Amphitheatre for A Prairie Home Companion American Revival on May 2nd as one of our featured musical guests. Join us >>> |
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| Thanks to all our subscribers and listeners, we sold through the first pressing of CDs for this newest collection of monologues, and we had to reprint! With that achievement comes a lot of inventory, so for one week, we are lowering the price of this great collection of News from Lake Wobegon monologues that aired between 2014 and 2016. Each of the twelve stories was taken from a different month of the year to show you how much can happen in a “Year in Lake Wobegon.” Musical interludes spruce it up, and the liner notes include poems for each month.
During April, National Poetry Month, we want to thank you for listening and supporting poetry! Here is the poem for April from the liner notes of A Year in Lake Wobegon (a staff-assembled collection of Lake Wobegon stories from 2014 to 2016).
APRIL
March and Lent and we march along on our spiritual journeys
As winter hangs on and the world looks older and duller
And then in the mail comes the spring seed catalog from Gurney’s
And suddenly there is life and audacious color
And excitement rivaling Times Square or Las Vegas —
Blue Lake, Early Fortune, King of the Garden beans,
Stunning onions, phenomenal fennel, and big brutes of rutabagas,
And the beet that can’t be beat: the extra-early Ruby Queens.
And O the tomatoes! Bearers of pure joy!
From tasteless store-bought stuff, deliver us!
The Crimson Defender, and Pink Delight, and Big Boy,
And the Beef Eater - the tomato carnivorous.
Lord, whose Arm is powerful, whose Word is valid,
Preserve us until July when we’ll have salad. Buy now >>> |
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