Wonderful World from 1997

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Listen to the classic show— https://www.prairiehome.org/shows/58237.html

This week, we’re revisiting a show from February 17, 1996, l, with Peter Rowan & Jerry Douglas, The Cox Family, and chanteuse Francine Roche with accordionist Mark Stillman. In Lake Wobegon, Darlene tries to meet a computer-bar date and Mr. Berge goes fishing with Ole, his dog.

Highlights include “Wonderful World” and “Blue Bayou,” “La Bohème” and ‘“La Vie en Rose,” Duct Tape, Fred Farrell, a visit from the Cowboys and the “Lonesome Cannonball Blues.” The two hours of music and laughs will fly by. Listen: https://www.prairiehome.org/shows/58237.html

More about our guest performers:

These days, when someone mentions a Dobro, Jerry Douglas immediately comes to mind. Little wonder. The 14-time Grammy winner and Country Music Association’s Musician of the Year can be heard on more than a thousand albums, including discs by Garth Brooks, Paul Simon, James Taylor, Vince Gill, and Ray Charles. Born in Warren, Ohio, Douglas developed an early interest in bluegrass. His father, a steelworker, played music, and Jerry took up the mandolin at age five. He switched to Dobro when he was 11, after seeing a Flatt & Scruggs concert featuring Dobro master Josh Graves. Before he was out of his teens, he had joined the Country Gentlemen. He has been a member of other groundbreaking bands like J.D. Crowe & the New South, Alison Krauss & Union Station, and The Earls of Leicester — and he has a thriving career as a solo artist as well. The New York Times called Douglas “Dobro’s matchless contemporary master.”

The Cox Family from Cotton Valley, Louisiana, continues a trademark sound spanning over seventy years of traditional roots in gospel, bluegrass, and country music. After founding member Willard Cox passed away in 2019, his son and daughters, joined by their children, continue to perform. The group won a Grammy Award for the Alison Krauss-produced album I Know Who Holds Tomorrow in 1995 as well as for their contributions to the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack.

Fearmonger's Shoppe

This week’s classic A Prairie Home Companion show is brought to you by Deadly Snakes from The Fearmonger’s Shoppe, which is a sponsor that was created to test the talents of our fine sound effects team.

Most parents, before turning in for the night, like to make sure that their families are safe and well protected. They check to see that the doors are locked and bolted, that the batteries in the smoke detector are good, that the baseball bats are within arm’s reach. Then they go to sleep — unaware that their loved ones are easy prey for the most terrifying danger of all: deadly snakes.

Many people think that deadly snakes can’t live in cold climates, and they’re partly right: When it’s cold, deadly snakes head for warm places. Homes, for example.

In the home, the favorite nesting place for deadly snakes is at the foot of the bed — under the covers. Here, public awareness is the solution: If every parent would simply whack the bed a few times with a baseball bat before the child crawls in, the danger of bed snakes could be completely eliminated.

But how do deadly snakes enter the home in the first place? The answer is obvious, if only we will think about it. Our municipal sewer systems are teeming with deadly snakes — snakes that were once kept as pets, but of course when their owners found out they were deadly, they were flushed down the toilet. They live in sewers, but when it’s cold they seek a warm place, and what is more natural than for them to try to get out of the sewer the same way they went in?

That’s why the Fearmonger’s Shoppe recommends Safety Seats for every toilet in your home. When closed, Safety Seats clamp on tight to the toilet bowl and keep snakes in. Open it up, and the Safety Seat unfolds to become and elevated seat. You sit 36 inches above water level, safely out of reach of even the longest snake — even those chain snakes that get up on each other’s shoulders.

So give deadly snakes the old one-two: One, beat the bed with a baseball bat. And two, get a Safety Seat from the Fearmonger’s Shoppe, maker of home-defense systems. Remember: Where safety’s concerned, don’t look for savings. Shop at the Fearmonger’s. Serving your phobia needs since 1954.

Original Logo Shirt

Like the women and men of Lake Wobegon, this comfortable T-shirt is strong and good-looking. (After the hat became a top seller, we added the matching shirt.) Handsomely re-created and screened onto the front of the garment is a spot-on reproduction of the original sign that anchored the stage during the live shows from 1974 to 1979.

Get the Shirt>>>

Make America Intelligent Again Hat

Being very popular during the 2020 election, it still remains a top seller. Garrison crafted this expression in response to 45’s campaign slogan. There is one thing we can all agree on: we all need to be a bit more intelligent in the political realm. Let’s also add a dose of respect.

Get the HAT>>>