Garrison Keillor, host and creator of A Prairie Home Companion, has many comedy CDs under his belt.

Except for the Songs Of The Cat CD, all of these Lake Wobegon releases feature clips from his Prairie Home Companion Radio Show.  Funny stories and funny skits are Garrison Keillor’s trademark as well as a fairly eclectic taste for music of most any kind except perhaps heavy metal and rap.  Keillor is a meat and potatoes genial kind of guy, perhaps too liberal to some, who revels in the simple things of life and the simple life of the imaginary world of Lake Wobegon.  Lake Wobegon Loyalty Days is basically Garrison Keillor live in concert but this time accompanied by the Minnesota Orchestra conducted by Philip Brunelle, a long time Keillor associate.  Lake Wobegon Loyalty Days includes perhaps Keillor’s best track ever:  The Young Lutheran’s Guide to the Orchestra.

The other tracks on this Garrison Keillor CD are all very good.  Lake Wobegon Loyalty Days opens with a song, Hello Love, and closes with a song, Song Of The Exiles.  You also get funny skits and funny stories like Loyalty Days, Whoopi-Ti-Yi-Yo, Sons of Knute, The Radio Announcer and the Lake Wobegon Hymn.  What makes this cd so special and a must have even if you are lukewarm to the Keillor style is the heart of Lake Wobegon Loyalty Days:  The Young Lutheran’s Guide To The Orchestra.

If there is a musician in your family or if your child is taking up music,Young Lutheran’s Guide to the Orchestra is a wonderful 25 minute introduction to the orchestra and a wonderful teaching tool in terms of what the various instruments sound like.  Keillor’s premise is that each instrument in the orchestra requires a musician of a certain personality to play it and it is while describing the instrument and the kind of personality associated with it that he guides the “young Lutheran” towards a musical choice.  To be clear, this track has nothing to do with religion and everything to do with a love of music and a guide to a better appreciation of it.

Another great and funny story by Keillor on this album is The Radio Announcer where Keillor relates a story about working for college radio.  It is, as usual with Keillor bittersweet and funny.  Giving you the punchline would be cruel but it is one of Keillor’s best stories.

Garrison Keillor’s Lake Wobegon Loyalty Days may be one of the rare Keillor cds without the signature News From Lake Wobegon but it is definitely a very good and very funny CD.  One might think that an “educational” track like The Young Lutheran’s Guide To The Orchestra” would be boring but it is absolutely charming, fascinating, and, of course, funny.

Lake Wobegon Loyalty Days
Garrison Keillor
EMI 1989

TRACKS:

1- Hello Love

2- Loyalty Days

3- Whoopi Ti-Y-Yo

4- Sons of Knute – Loyalty Oath

5- Sons of Knute – March

6- Some Words From Powdermilk Biscuits

7- Powdermilk Biscuits Theme

8- The Young Lutheran’s Guide To The Orchestra

9- The Radio Announcer

10- The Lake Wobegon Hymn

11- Song Of The Exiles

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