“A Prairie Home Companion” has been an American institution since it first hit airwaves on public radio in 1974. Original host and creator Garrison Keillor has been at the show’s helm since then, earning a loyal following of Saturday night listeners and establishing himself as a preeminent figure in public radio after over 40 years of music, storytelling, and, of course, “News from Lake Wobegon.”
Last year, Keillor announced he planned to hang up his “Prairie” hat, and that musician and frequent “Prairie Home” guest Chris Thile would take over as host in the Fall of 2016. Thile is well known in the bluegrass and Americana communities. He is a singer, songwriter, virtuosic mandolin player and MacArthur fellow who, though most famous for his work with Nickel Creek and Punch Brothers, has shared stages and studios with everyone from Yo-Yo Ma to Béla Fleck. For some, then, Thile may be a surprising replacement for radio veteran Keillor. Thile counts himself among the surprised.
“I had his name in my caller ID because every now and then he would call, maybe a week or two before an episode of his show, ‘Chris do you think you could, uh, make it out to the show? We’d love to have you. Call me back. Garrison,’” he says, his Keillor impression spot on. “It’s as imposing a name as one can ever see come up on their cell phone, especially for someone like me who grew up listening to the show. It’s like the whole of my life is on my cell phone.”
After an evening of consideration, Thile called Keillor back and accepted the “Prairie” torch. The two made plans for Thile to guest host a couple of episodes, two of which took place in February of this year. Thile recruited guests like Sarah Jarosz and Ben Folds for those shows, relying heavily on music, including new songs like the Super Bowl-themed viral hit “Omahallelujah,” which he wrote specifically for that night’s broadcast. He plans to write a new song for each weekly broadcast when he takes over as host.
Keillor and Thile have developed something of a mentor-mentee relationship over the past couple of years, with Thile taking cues from the veteran while anticipating his October 15 start date.
“Honestly, knowing that I was about to do this and watching the master at work has been invaluable, particularly watching him navigate the incredibly treacherous, dangerous waters of a farewell season where people want so much from you as you’re departing,” he says. “It was amazing, like watching Sandy Koufax toss a no-hitter or seeing Roger Federer hit a forehand in the middle of the court. He did it with such aplomb and ease, and it was difficult for him, but you’d never know it listening to the radio. He’s extraordinary.”
Despite his seniority, though, Keillor was quick to offer Thile a simple but important piece of advice: be yourself. “Right from the first, [Keillor] said that I shouldn’t try and host the show the way that he hosted the show,” Thile says. “I think that was a great reminder and something he keeps stressing. The whole ‘be yourself,’ you know we hear it our whole lives, from our parents and from our tee-ball coaches, our first English teachers. And I’m a musician, that’s the name of the game, or certainly the name of any interesting musician’s game, to say that they are themselves in a way that no one else can be. That’s what’s special.”
Thile is taking the reins of the show at a difficult time, mere weeks before the November 8 culmination of one of the most troubling, tempestuous presidential elections in decades. He’s already thinking about how he plans to use the show both as a platform for discussing current events (“Take a good luck at this Trump fellow. Are you sure that you can get behind that? Really?” he laughs) and a respite for those worn out by seemingly endless political vitriol.
“In the midst of all these horrible things that we do to one another, it’s really easy to forget that there are some basic human impulses that are so beautiful,” he says. “They can be a reaction to the horrible things that we do. They can atone for the horrible things, or they can at least make an attempt to atone for the horrible things that we do to one another. We can’t forget how beautiful life is.”
Those beautiful things to which Thile refers will be similar to fans of “Prairie Home” in its original incarnation, as he plans to keep the skits, poems, spoken word, and, of course, music that fans have grown to hold dearly over the years while putting his own spin on an old favorite.
“The prospect of hosting the show knowing that I’m going to be in a position where we’ll have people’s ears for two hours on an early Saturday evening, I’m going to need to address these things,” he says. “All of us we’ll be there trying to make beautiful things that make sense of our world that seems so broken right now.”
