America's companion

I caught just the end of A Praire Home Companiontonight, broadcast on PBS from Tanglewood as part of Great Performances. Tied-in to the Robert Altman movie Meryl Streep was on, along with the Canadian trio The Wailin' Jennys and gospel singer Jearlyn Steele.

I used to listen to APHC religiously, either Saturday night or on the Sunday rebroadcast. Always loved the music; everything from folk to bluegrass to jazz to classical. It's where I first heard Iris DeMent, whose Infamous Angel may be my favorite album of all time. Always liked the Guy Noir skits, the Powdermilk Biscuits jingle, the Bebop-a-reebop Rhubarb Pie zaniness.

But most of all, it's just nice to hear Garrison's voice. Whether he's hosting or singing or spinning a Lake Woebegone tale, to me it's the quintessential American voice--it comes across as well when he does The Writer's Almanac in the mornings. It's nice hearing him blend with the Hopeful Gospel Choir, or the night's guest musician. He has a pretty good singing voice, a great speaking voice.

But really what's best is how unabashed and enthusiastic he is about being a part of everything. That, and his absolute lack of guile. When he sings it's from the heart, it's what he loves to do and we're lucky that he shares it with us on a regular basis. When he speaks, it's always in a relaxed, humorous style that's exactly accurate.

Watching the televised broadcast tonight, I was struck that like his fellow Midwesterner David Letterman he's got a certain amount of physical uncomfortableness in him. But also like Letterman, he deals with it because what he loves to do requires him to be in close proximity with people.

They're both totally vulnerable on stage; more so than other musicians Keillor's wide open up there, he has no wall of noise or band to hide behind or push around. Not to mention when he spins out his weekly tale (without notes!) it's just him, a stool and a mike, with thousands of people listening intently to his every word.

And that face of his... so odd in some ways, with its odd shape and fierce eyebrows and almost-frightening eyes; so different from his dulcet voice and the content of his stories.

It was interesting, at the end of the show they sang the full version of America the Beautiful, with Keillor prompting the audience--he's no shirking violet, he has a very specific idea of how things should be done and by force of personality and bodily bulk people follow him. It's a very powerful thing he does, anyone who's ever attended a religious ceremony knows the impact of hundreds or thousands of voices in unision.

And Keillor's show is the only one I know of where American audiences regularly sing together, and all the classics at that; and people really sing, because he's up there giving it his all. Really, if he wasn't such a classic American liberal (exemplifying everything great about that breed) he'd be revered by conservatives.

By the end of the song tonight there were tears in Streeps' eyes; totally unexpected, given how composed and in control she usually seems. They had sung a duet together earlier--she's got a pretty good voice; he looked so earnest besides her, loping around with his mike, purely happy. You couldn't help but smile to see it.

Photo of Keillor in Salt Lake City by Russ Ringsak via APHC's excellent website.