Headliner :: Garrison Keillor featuring Robin and Linda Williams

Garrison Keillor featuring Robin and Linda Williams
Garrison Keillor, author of Lake Wobegon Days and the creator of A Prairie Home Companion brings his gentle wit and Midwestern sense of humor to the stage with two shows: Garrison Keillor with Robin and Linda Williams, and Garrison Keillor and The Hopeful Gospel Quartet. As longtime fans have come to expect, Garrison intersperses songs and humorous stories with performances from Robin and Linda and other guest artists.

Keillor was born in 1942 in Anoka, Minnesota, and began his radio career as a freshman at the University of Minnesota. In 1974, he created his popular variety show, A Prairie Home Companion, which — for more than 40 years — delighted some 4 million listeners on 700 public radio stations coast to coast and beyond. He also hosted The Writer ’s Almanac, a five-minute, daily broadcast featuring poetry and historical notes of literary significance. He has been honored with Grammy, ACE, and George Foster Peabody awards, the National Humanities Medal, and election to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His several dozen books include The Keillor Reader , That Time of Year: A Minnesota Life, Boom Town: A Lake Wobegon Novel, and Serenity at 70, Gaiety at 80.

For more than four decades now, Robin & Linda Williams have made it their mission to perform the music that they love, “a robust blend of bluegrass, folk, old-time and acoustic country that combines wryly observant lyrics with a wide-ranging melodicism.” Today some might call it “Americana”, but these two revered music masters were living and breathing this elixir 20 years before that label was turned into a radio format. As live performers they are second to none. Their stirring concerts have earned them a huge body of fans over the years. But as gifted songwriters Robin and Linda have earned an even rarer honor, the devotion and deep respect of their musical peers. As The Washington Postput it, “The Williamses are able to sum up a life in a few details with moving completeness.” The list of artists who have covered their original songs include some of the greats of country music, names like Emmylou Harris, Tom T. Hall, George Hamilton IV, Tim & Mollie O’Brien, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Kathy Mattea and The Seldom Scene.