![]() Chris Thile on mandolin (left of center), on APHC with guest vocalists Brandi Carlile (center), as well as Sarah Jarosz and Punch Brothers. Fitzgerald Theater, 2016 | |
Genre | Music, comedy, storytelling (radio variety) |
---|---|
Running time | 2 hours |
Country of origin | United States |
Language(s) | English |
Home station | Minnesota Public Radio |
Syndicates | American Public Media |
Starring | Chris Thile, Rich Dworsky, Punch Brothers Chris Eldridge and Paul Kowert, Brittany Haas, Sarah Jarosz, Aoife O'Donovan, Ted Poor, Serena Brook, Tim Russell, Sue Scott, Fred Newman, Tom Papa, Mike Elizondo, Mike Yard |
Original release | October 15, 2016 – June 14, 2020 |
Opening theme | "Fugue State" by Vulfpeck [1] |
Website | livefromhere |
Live from Here, formerly known as A Prairie Home Companion with Chris Thile, is an American variety radio show known for its musical guests, tongue-in-cheek radio drama, and relaxed humor. Hosted by Chris Thile, it aired live on Saturday evenings from 2016 to 2020. The show's initial home was the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul, Minnesota, moving later to The Town Hall in New York City, [2] where it remained until its cancellation the next year. [3]
The show was derived from the historic A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor (APHC) radio show. The original host, Garrison Keillor, performed his final show on July 2, 2016, and Thile's program began on October 15, 2016. Thile, an American virtuoso mandolinist and singer-songwriter, had a two-decade history with APHC and is known for his work in the folk and progressive bluegrass groups Nickel Creek and Punch Brothers. After Thile made two unprecedented guest host appearances in 2015, Keillor decided on his successor; featured Thile as host again in January–February 2016; and fully ceded his hosting role to Thile in the October 2016 performance at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul, Minnesota, continuing as the show's Executive Producer. [4] Thile's new program presented expanded musical and comedic elements, retaining the template of the earlier program (e.g., its then-present acting and sound effect cast, and "sponsorships" from fictitious companies), but without such features as its earlier signatures "Lives of the Cowboys" and "Guy Noir, Private Eye" series, and "News from Lake Wobegon" monologue. [5]
Chris Thile, born in 1981, is an American virtuoso mandolinist and singer-songwriter known for his folk and progressive bluegrass work in the trio Nickel Creek and the quintet Punch Brothers. [6] [7] [8] [9] A child prodigy in music—self-described as "begging [his] parents for a mandolin from the time [he] was 2" and picking up the mandolin for the first time at the age of 5 [10] —Thile was one of a trio, with siblings Sara and Sean Watkins, home-schooled California children from musical backgrounds, who formed the group Nickel Creek with Thile's father in 1989. [10] An acoustic group, it continues as a trio to the present day, with Thile's participation alongside his more recent acoustic quintet Punch Brothers, both variously described using terms such as folk, progressive, bluegrass, "newgrass," and roots music. [11] [8] Thile was awarded BBC's Folk Musician of the Year award in 2007, a MacArthur Fellowship "genius" award in 2012, and eight Grammy Award nominations, four of which he won for Best Album in 1997, 2002, 2013, and 2015 (in the categories of Bluegrass, Contemporary Folk, Folk, and Contemporary Instrumental, respectively). [10] Garrison Keillor's personal opinion is that Thile is "the great bluegrass performer of our time." [12] As well, others have observed that "[t]hough charming and cheery, Thile is by nature deeply competitive," and that he understands the business side of matters: for example, that the size of audiences the show attracts will matter. [12]
This section needs expansionwith: with further brief, sourced descriptions of Thile's guest spots on the APHC, before and after accepting the new position as host. You can help by adding to it. (December 2016) |
Thile first performed with Garrison Keillor on A Prairie Home Companion in 1996 at age 15. [7] [10] Over the next two decades, Thile returned to APHC eight times (according to the program's website), [10] performing both as a solo artist and as a part of the groups Nickel Creek and Punch Brothers.[ citation needed ] These guest appearances included performances at the programs home venue, the Fitzgerald Theater, and at tour venues. Programs in which Thile participated that received press coverage or are otherwise sourced and noteworthy appear below.
This section needs expansionwith: with description of the remaining guest host spots prior to Thile's taking the APHC helm. You can help by adding to it. (December 2016) |
When Keillor announced in November 2014 that he would absent himself from APHC for "only the second time in decades," he yielded the host's microphone to Thile for these guest host appearances. [12] Thile began these appearances in 2015 and appeared a total of 4 times in the twelve months thereafter,[ citation needed ][ verification needed ] the final two guest host spots being on January 30 and February 6, 2016. [18]
The guest host appearances gave an indication of the type of crew that Thile would assemble, the kinds of guests he would attract, and the style in which he might host (see Format and Cast, below). [19] [ better source needed ] The hosted programs were on the following dates, and featured the following guest artists:
In 2015, Keillor announced that he would step down from hosting the program and designated Chris Thile [21] as the new host. Keillor's final episode of the show was recorded live on July 1, 2016, at the Hollywood Bowl in California for an audience of 18,000 fans [22] and broadcast the next day. [23] Keillor retained artistic rights and trademark to the show's name as well as some distribution rights and rights to retail items connected with A Prairie Home Companion. Thile made his debut as permanent host on October 15, 2016.
In November 2017, Minnesota Public Radio severed all business ties with former APHC host Garrison Keillor over unspecified "inappropriate behavior with an individual who worked with him." [24] The Minnesota Public Radio website listed the show under the working title The Show with Chris Thile, as the trademark for A Prairie Home Companion is held by Keillor, not MPR. [25] Thile addressed the situation on the December 2 installment of the series, [26] and Thile began using a new theme, "Radio Boogie". [27] [28]
The show aired under the placeholder title of The Show with Chris Thile for the next two Saturdays. Finally, on December 16, Thile announced the show's new name as Live from Here. [29]
This section needs expansionwith: the settled format for the new program, once further articles are published about its evolution and point of equilibrium. You can help by adding to it. (December 2016) |
Thile has referred to the program that Keillor created as a "truly great wor[k] of art" and so "immortal," so that he would "keep using the template [Keillor] created to tell each other stories and to escape from our daily cares. [20] Even so, Andrew Leahy of the Rolling Stone wrote that Thile had added to the mandate of "preserving the show's appeal" a further one of "revising its structure and broadening its reach to younger generations." [7] Hence, the program continued to present a variety of program elements, including music, and storytelling, comedic and otherwise (see following), but Thile had indicated some changes in direction, and others were noted in early reviews. Absent from the new program was the "Lives of the Cowboys" sketch, [30] and the signature weekly "News from Lake Wobegon" monologues from Garrison Keillor; still present as of October 2016 were "old favorites" such as the program's faux sponsorship by Powdermilk Biscuits. [31]
As of the opening month of the program, the planned replacement for the Keillor monologue was a slate of appearances from standup comics, for instance, the Irish comedian Maeve Higgins. [31] New music from the host, and expanded music in general, had been noted as features of the new program. [20] [31] Andrew Leahy of Rolling Stone offers as perspective, that
Perhaps the most crucial ingredient in Thile's radio-show-revision recipe was his Song of the Week. Every broadcast featured a newly-penned composition, its lyrics and instrumental themes tailored to current events. [7]
Thile indicated that the musical variety of the premiere program (see below) would continue, with listeners to expect "roots-rockers, folk singers, jazz musicians, soul revivalists and bluegrass bands all taking the stage." [7]
In March 2020, because the escalation of the COVID-19 pandemic forced the shutdown of live music performances, Live from Here switched to a mixture of remotely produced broadcasts and reruns of episodes from 2019. By June, the pandemic had stressed parent company Minnesota Public Radio's finances. Because MPR was uncertain when—or even if—Live from Here could ever resume in-person performances, it diverted resources from the show toward its flagship program Marketplace . Live from Here was immediately cancelled following its June 13 remote broadcast, without affording the show a series finale. [3]
In addition to Chris Thile, who contributed originally composed music and performances on his various instruments, the musical and acting cast and crew consisted of the following artists: [32]
Local public radio stations carried the weekly production of Live from Here with Chris Thile at one or more broadcast times, varying by station. The NPR Now channel on SiriusXM Satellite Radio carried the program on Saturdays at 5 p.m. and Sundays at 11 a.m., both Central Time (UTC−6). [36] [37] The audio of the program also streamed live online, at livefromhere.org on Saturdays from 5 to 7 p.m. Central, and video streams were likewise available when the program broadcasts from their home venue, The Fitzgerald Theater, or their "home-away-from-home", The Town Hall in New York City. [36] Streaming audio from each show posts following the Saturday broadcast at livefromhere.org, as of March 2018 at noon, Central Time on Sunday. [36]
Highlights from the show, including Chris Thile's "Song of the Week", are available via RSS, iHeartRadio, iTunes, Stitcher, and TuneIn. [36]
In the announcement of the change in host for the program, American Public Media stated:
One of the most popular public radio programs will begin a new chapter this fall as musician Chris Thile takes over for Garrison Keillor as the new host of A Prairie Home Companion, bringing a fresh approach to an audience favorite. Beginning on October 15, 2016, Thile will host a 30-week season, including live broadcasts, produced shows and repeats on public radio stations nationwide. [38] [39]
Keillor, who had made various statements regarding retirement in the past, was described in June 2016 as being "fairly serious this time," and he is quoted as saying "Chris is my man, and I'm eager to stay home and read books." [40] Elaborating further, Keillor wrote to Abe Streep of The New York Times Magazine , indicating that Thile's adventurous nature—alongside his high esteem for "the great bluegrass performer" [12] —were reasons for his consideration as Keillor's replacement, which would be tested via a trial run of guest host appearances in January–February 2016; [12] Keillor wrote,
I came to this decision myself, without talking to another soul about it ... I could've held meetings, commissioned studies, appointed a task force, and six months later the task force would've concluded that the show could not go on. Well, I say it can and it should. And I decided it should return to its roots as a musical variety show and grow from there. [12]
Keillor went on to write about Thile, "He takes big chances ... He can be a chameleon, he can swim in every event, and for all his brilliance, nobody sounds better singing old American songs than he. Nobody." [12]
Thile, in discussing the changeover with Minnesota Public Radio, indicated that he would continue to write new musical material, as he has in initial programs since his debut as host: "I would like to write something new every week ... I've written a new song for each show. I want to keep doing that. It's so much fun." [20] In addition, he has highlighted comedy as an element for the new show, noting the success of appearances of comedian Maria Bamford in shows he had hosted early in 2016 which gave "five or six minutes of hilarity." With regard to story telling, he noted the success of an appearance by actor Ed Helms, indicating that the new APHC will "have that kind of thing going on." When asked about future on-air material from show originator and current executive producer Garrison Keillor, Thile replied, "He's such an amazing writer that if he comes up with an idea that would be good for the show ... I imagine we'll get a script here and there." [20]
While much media focus during the changeover was on the artistry and styles associated with Keillor and Thile, APHC and American Public Media (APM) are businesses as well; at its peak, the original APHC radio program had garnered in excess of four million weekly listeners, and Rivertown Trading Company, the purveyor of APHC-themed products, was sold in 1998 by Minnesota Public Radio for US $120 million. [12] Sensitive to the potential loss of audience due to the change of the show's hosting—Thile said that he knew he would lose some listeners devoted to Keillor, stating at the time that "[the] goal is to lose one million ... and add two." [12] —the program's distributor, American Public Media, indicated its intent to ease listeners completely away from experiencing the earlier Keillor format by "mix[ing] in" more than a dozen of the new APHC programs with Thile, alongside a set of reruns where Keillor is at the helm. [31]
Writing for the Chicago Tribune, Steve Johnson noted that the new program "still rel[ies] heavily on an air of authenticity derived from its Minnesota locale, [but] now leans a little more toward music," and "away from storytelling." [31] Johnson concluded that the program remains "an easy, graceful listen" featuring "a killer musical repertoire in the Americana tradition," and "humor ranging from corny to cutting." [31]
Jon Bream of Minneapolis' Star Tribune complimented Thile's musical expertise, especially relative to the more amateur Keillor: "Unlike Keillor, Thile is a host who can actually sing duets with authority, not just aspiration" as well as suggesting that Thile's connections to popular music would benefit the production, such as to Jack White, who performed on the show. [5]
Not all critics were as certain that the shift in the show's brand had been a good one. Erik Sherman, writing for Inc. This Morning, observed: "...brands are fragile and this one just hit the ground and shattered. ...the new name is Live From Here. A more anodyne and empty brand would be difficult to achieve. This is the sort of concoction that a satirist mocking such a production might adopt," and points out that the show's listenership was down to 2.6 million at the end of 2017. [41]
Gary Edward "Garrison" Keillor is an American author, singer, humorist, voice actor, and radio personality. He created the Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) show A Prairie Home Companion, which he hosted from 1974 to 2016. Keillor created the fictional Minnesota town Lake Wobegon, the setting of many of his books, including Lake Wobegon Days and Leaving Home: A Collection of Lake Wobegon Stories. Other creations include Guy Noir, a detective voiced by Keillor who appeared in A Prairie Home Companion comic skits. Keillor is also the creator of the five-minute daily radio/podcast program The Writer's Almanac, which pairs poems of his choice with a script about important literary, historical, and scientific events that coincided with that date in history.
A Prairie Home Companion is a weekly radio variety show created and hosted by Garrison Keillor that aired live from 1974 to 2016. In 2016, musician Chris Thile took over as host, and the successor show was eventually renamed Live from Here and ran until 2020. A Prairie Home Companion aired on Saturdays from the Fitzgerald Theater in Saint Paul, Minnesota; it was also frequently heard on tours to New York City and other U.S. cities. The show is known for its musical guests, especially folk and traditional musicians, tongue-in-cheek radio drama, and relaxed humor. Keillor's wry storytelling segment, "News from Lake Wobegon," was the show's best-known feature during his long tenure.
Radio comedy, or comedic radio programming, is a radio broadcast that may involve variety show, sitcom elements, sketches, and various types of comedy found in other media. It may also include more surreal or fantastic elements, as these can be conveyed on a small budget with just a few sound effects or some simple dialogue. Radio comedy began in the United States in 1930, based on the fact that as most United Kingdom music hall comedians such as Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel progressed to silent films, they moved to Hollywood and fed the radio comedy field. Another British music hall comic, George Formby, stayed in the British movie industry, and in 1940 joined the Entertainments National Service Association to entertain British World War II troops. UK radio comedy therefore started later, in the 1950s.
The Writer's Almanac is a daily podcast and newsletter of poetry and historical interest pieces, usually of literary significance. Begun as a radio program in 1993, it is hosted by Garrison Keillor and was produced and distributed by American Public Media through November 2017. It is also available as a podcast. Past program sponsors include The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry Magazine and The Mosaic Foundation of Rita and Peter Heydon.
Thomas Alan Keith was a radio personality who worked for Minnesota Public Radio in St. Paul, Minnesota. He was the engineer for Garrison Keillor when the latter began his early morning radio show from the St. John's University, Collegeville, Minnesota studio. Keillor wanted dialogue during the program and Keith was about the only other person around at that early hour. Keith was one of the primary sound effects performers for the radio show A Prairie Home Companion and was often an actor in sketches written by Keillor. Keillor created the persona of Jim Ed Poole for Keith on the old early morning show. Jim Ed was said to have grown up in West St. Paul, Minnesota and graduated from Henry Sibley High School.
Tim Russell is an American radio announcer and voice actor (AFTRA/SAG) in Minneapolis – Saint Paul. He is most widely known as one of the actors on the long-running radio show, A Prairie Home Companion, and continued in that role on the show, re-titled, Live From Here with Chris Thile until September 2018. As a voice-over talent and announcer, Russell also appears in radio and television commercials.
Frederick R. Newman is an American actor, comedian, composer, sound effects artist both in person and for film, and former talk show host. Newman is known for his ability to make ‘mouthsounds’ and is not a traditional Foley artist.
Christopher Scott Thile is an American mandolinist, singer, songwriter, composer, and radio personality, best known for his work in the progressive acoustic trio Nickel Creek and the acoustic folk and progressive bluegrass quintet Punch Brothers. He is a 2012 MacArthur Fellow. From 2016 to its cancellation in 2020, he hosted the radio variety show Live from Here.
A Prairie Home Companion is a 2006 American musical comedy film directed by Robert Altman in his final film. It is a fictional representation of behind-the-scenes activities at the long-running public radio show of the same name. The film received mostly positive reviews and was a moderate box-office success on a small budget. The film features an ensemble cast including Woody Harrelson, Tommy Lee Jones, Garrison Keillor, Kevin Kline, Lindsay Lohan, Virginia Madsen, John C. Reilly, Maya Rudolph, Meryl Streep, and Lily Tomlin.
Guy Noir is a fictional private detective regularly featured on the public radio show A Prairie Home Companion. Voiced by Garrison Keillor, the character parodies the conventions of hardboiled fiction and the film noir genre. Guy Noir works on the twelfth floor of the Acme Building in a city that "knows how to keep its secrets", St. Paul, Minnesota.
Sara Ullrika Watkins is an American singer-songwriter and fiddler. Watkins debuted in 1989 as the fiddler of Nickel Creek, the progressive bluegrass group she formed with her brother Sean and mandolinist Chris Thile. In addition to singing and fiddling, Watkins also plays the ukulele and the guitar, and also played percussion while touring with the Decemberists. In 2012, she and her brother played with Jackson Browne during his "I'll Do Anything" acoustic tour.
Aoife O'Donovan is an American singer and Grammy award-winning songwriter. She is best known as the lead singer for the string band Crooked Still and she also co-founded the Grammy Award-winning female folk trio I'm with Her. She has released three critically acclaimed studio albums: Fossils (2013), In the Magic Hour (2016), and Age of Apathy, as well as multiple noteworthy live recordings and EPs, including Blue Light (2010), Peachstone (2012), Man in a Neon Coat: Live From Cambridge (2016), In the Magic Hour: Solo Sessions (2019), and Bull Frog's Croon (2020). She also spent a decade contributing to the radio variety shows Live from Here and A Prairie Home Companion. Her first professional engagement was singing lead for the folk group The Wayfaring Strangers.
The Morning Show, initially called The Morning Program and then for a time A Prairie Home Entertainment and A Prairie Home Morning Show, was a weekday morning drive-time radio program produced in St. Paul, Minnesota and broadcast on Minnesota Public Radio's KCMP and other stations of the MPR network.
Thomas Papa Jr. is an American comedian, actor, and radio host. He hosts the Sirius XM Satellite Radio show Come to Papa and, in July 2019, he and Fortune Feimster started hosting the Sirius XM show What a Joke with Papa and Fortune. Papa hosted the show Baked on the Food Network and was the head writer and a performer on the radio variety show Live from Here, hosted by Chris Thile, where he delivered the "Out In America" segment.
Chris Eldridge is a Grammy Award winning American guitarist and singer. He is a member of Punch Brothers and frequently performs in a duo with fellow guitarist Julian Lage. He was the guitarist in the house band on Prairie Home Companion/Live From Here from 2016-2020. He was also a founding member of the bluegrass band The Infamous Stringdusters. His father is noted banjoist Ben Eldridge of the Seldom Scene.
Sarah Ellen Jarosz is an American singer-songwriter from Wimberley, Texas. Her debut studio album, Song Up in Her Head, was released in 2009 and the song "Mansinneedof" was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of Best Country Instrumental Performance. Her second studio album, Follow Me Down, released in 2011, received a Song of the Year nomination from the Americana Music Association's 2012 Honors and Awards. Her third studio album, Build Me Up from Bones, was released on September 24, 2013 through Sugar Hill Records. Build Me Up from Bones was nominated for Best Folk Album at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards, and its title track was nominated for Best American Roots Song. In 2016, Jarosz released her fourth studio album, Undercurrent. The album won two Grammy Awards.
Bluegrass mandolin is a style of mandolin playing most commonly heard in bluegrass bands.
Run Boy Run is a progressive bluegrass and Americana band from Tucson, Arizona. Known for their blend of old-time bluegrass, folk, and classical music as well as for their focus on three-part harmonies, the band first rose to national attention following appearances on Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion in 2013. Since their 2009 inception, Run Boy Run has garnered a number of accolades, including winning placements at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival and Flagstaff's Pickin' in the Pines.
Lila Newman is an American actress, writer, comedian, humorist, singer and musician. She is the daughter of actor Fred Newman.
All Ashore is the fifth studio album by the American group Punch Brothers, released on July 20, 2018. The band announced the release of the album's first singles "It's All Part of the Plan" and the instrumental "Three Dots and a Dash" on June 14, 2018. The album was self-produced by the band and was released on the Nonesuch Records label. The nine songs were written and recorded in the sequence of the tracklist at the United Sound studio in Los Angeles, California. The album received generally favorable reviews from critics.
[Quote:] Singer-songwriter and mandolinist Chris Thile performs a song for the PBS NewsHour.
[Quote:] Live from The Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul, Minnesota / It's the Young Artists Showcase with 14-year-old mandolin virtuoso Chris Thile, and 27-year-old Seamus Egan, Irish traditional musician, leading the quintet called Solas.See the preceding Note regarding Thile's age at this performance, appearing within this bullet point, above.
[Quote:] Guests:Kate MacKenzie, guitar and vocals; Chris Thile, mandolin; Michael Cleveland, fiddle. Solas, featuring Seamus Egan: Seamus Egan, flute; Karan Casey, vocals; John Doyle, guitar, backing vocals; Win[i]fred Horan,[sic.] fiddle; John Williams, button accordion, concertina.
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