A Prairie Home Companion 4th Annual Farewell Performance is a 2 CD Garrison Keillor set of the complete June 16th 1990 show in Iowa City. If you are going to re-release something, might as well do it right.  HighBridge Audio does that in spades for each of the four Prairie Home Companion Annual Farewell Performance CD sets.

Each of the sets looks great and each features complete liner notes and so on. I also appreciate the cardboard fold-in box to the standard plastic double trays as they are more durable.  A Prairie Home Companion 4th Annual Farewell Performance, Vol. 1 mp3 download version

This 1990 Prairie Home Companion show recording is a nice trip back in time for long time Garrison Keillor Lake Wobegon fans. For those who are not familiar with the older shows, the 4th Annual Farewell Performance CD set reveals a somewhat different show than what is now heard on Minnesota Public Radio.  A Prairie Home Companion 4th Annual Farewell Performance, Vol. 2  mp3 download version

This show is much faster paced than what Garrison Keillor fans are now used to. It features a lot more music and the music itself is more traditional. It tends towards gospel, traditional, and bluegrass. It is also a much more mellow experience compared to “modern” Prairie Home Companion shows which have an edge and are more political.

There are also fewer sketches and fake commercials -this CD set features a Bertha’s Kitty Boutique bit and one for Ostrousko Horseradish.

The Prairie Home Companion 4th Annual Farewell Performance CD set features 4 songs by Scottish song legend Jean Redpath, three songs by Iowa songwriter Greg Brown and a Russian Traditional

The News From Lake Wobegon story here is about the day Eloise Krepsbach was elected mayor of Lake Wobegon. This is one of the really good ones and it is not, to my knowledge, available on any other Keillor CD compilation.

Other non-musical bits include soap opera spoof Reach For Tomorrow, and an ensemble sketch in the now retired Buster the Show Dog series.

Since I have all four Annual Farewell Performance Garrison Keillor CD sets, I have to admit the sets look great together. Still, I wish HighBridge had kept the design of the 3rd Annual cassette edition; I just really like the artwork.

A Prairie home Companion 4th Annual Farewell Performance
Garrison Keillor
Iowa City, June 16th 1990
2 CD s 2 Hours
HighBridge Audio 2008

A Prairie Home Companion 4th Annual Farewell Performance:

Hello Love, Open Up Your Heart, Why Iowa, Powdermilk Biscuits/Back Again, Iowa Waltz, Reach for Tomorrow, If I Had Known, All Day Rain, Higher Ground, Buster, The Show Dog, Ostroushko Horseradish, Moi Rchehn (Moyee Yasinih)
Tico Tico, Intermission Rag, Greetings Prairie Lullaby, Bertha’s Kitty Boutique, The Eriskay Love Lilt, Heavy Lies My Heart, Leaving The Land, News From Lake Wobegon, God Moves On The Water, Hallelujah, I’m Ready

 

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