Garrison Keillor – Never Better Stories From Lake Wobegon

The 2007 Garrison Keillor CD Never Better Stories From Lake Wobegon set features 10 solid stories as aired on A Prairie Home Companion in 2005 and 2006.

Over the last few years, though much less lately, I have been rather annoyed with Keillor using A Prairie Home Companion as his bully pulpit and sometimes carrying his political preaching into his stories but this is not the case here. Other fans have blushed a bit due to the occasional risqué, for Lake Wobegon that is, references, so there you go. Keillor has also been somewhat repetitive over the last three or four years. However, these are certainly two CDs of original stories -save one if you are a fanatic public radio listener– anyone can fully enjoy.

Particularly excellent on this 2 Garrison Keillor CD set is the story Flying Elvises on the 4^th of July. News From Lake Wobegon is usually at its most memorable around the holidays (4^th of July, Halloween, and Christmas) and this particular story is certainly memorable. Also excellent is The March of the Turtles where migrating turtles interrupt and influence the life of Wobegonians. There are a lot of original bits here and on L’Amour a la Myrtle where one of the characters goes missing for a while. Traditionalists is the story of the Christmas Pageant, of people who want to change a few things about the holiday, and, strangely enough, those who change the most want the most tradition.Never Better, Vol. 1

Tragedy of a Summer Day (CD 2) features a deaf and almost blind man mowing his lawn and painting his house the wrong colour, a dog sprayed by a skunk, tomato juice, and an old lady, and Mr. Hoppy recuperating from playing a clown for the kids. There are a few other mishaps, including the rather unoriginal prank the graduating students play on the school superintendent (this is a story element fans of Prairie Home Companion look forward to). It is a somewhat disorganized story but it is fun to listen to because of the many very original moments and nary a reference to Bruno the fishing dog.Never Better, Vol. 2

Adversity, on CD 2 of Garrison Keillor’s Stories From Lake Wobegon, is one of those smorgasbord stories about winter with the familiar tale of how winters were in Keillor’s childhood. This is the only story most fans of A Prairie Home Companion will recognize many elements of (the remnants of the confederate army, lots of snow, sleigh ride to school, etc. Christmas 2006 is also a buffet of various short bits.

Another good story is Girl’s Volleyball though it includes familiar stuff about lutefisk. This is one of the more touching stories on this Keillor CD.

One thing that does bother me about Garrison Keillor Never Better Stories From Lake Wobegon is the introduction to the stories was deleted. Somehow, it is not quite news from Lake Wobegon unless Garrison Keillor says “It’s been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon, my hometown”. I guess this had to be done to fit 5 stories on each CD and was probably not an easy decision.

Never Better Stories From Lake Wobegon
Garrison Keillor
10 Stories 2 CDs
HighBridge Audio 2007

Never Better Stories From Lake Wobegon
Garrison Keillor
10 Stories 2 CDs
HighBridge Audio 2007

CD 1: The Herdsmen, L’Amour a la Myrtle. The March of the Turtles, Flying Elvises on the 4^th of July, Traditionalists (Xmas Story)

CD 2 The Little Girl and the Deadly Snake, Tragedy of a Summer Day, Girl’s Volleyball, Adversity. Christmas 2006

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