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A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor

Talent from Towns Under Two Thousand Contest
April 17, 1999 Archive Page - Previous Winners

This [show] represents a sort of quota in hiring preferences, setting aside a show for people from small towns and discriminating against people from Minneapolis, New York, Los Angeles, even Anoka [Keillor's hometown]. Though they may be more talented and deserving, I say, "Tough." We all know that life is terribly unfair, so why not spread the unfairness around more evenly? - GARRISON KEILLOR

ON JANUARY 9, 1999 A Prairie Home Companion host Garrison Keillor announced the Fifth Annual Talent from Towns Under 2,000 (T-TUTT) contest to be held on the April 17 live broadcast. The contest features performers from rural areas and towns with fewer than 2,000 people.

Last year's winner was The Virtual Consort - from Shelburne Falls, MA (pop. 1,997) - an acoustic, eclectic trio led by archguitar player Peter Blanchette. Blanchette is a builder of instruments and the inventor of the "archguitar," an 11-string instrument that combines elements of the lute and the guitar. The Virtual Consort won the 1998 T-TUTT contest with a performance of John Dowland's "The Frog Galliard." (A review of last year's contest, complete with many audio additions, is available online.)

Contest finalists selected from submitted auditions were flown to Peoria, IL for the competition broadcast. The winner of the contest received the coveted Silver Water Tower Trophy and a monetary prize.


Press the answering machine
to hear Jesse's invitation to audition!


1999 Finalists!
Audio files below in RealAudio 3.0 28.8

Winner
Jason Moody

Audition | Performance
Dover, Idaho (population 500)
Runner-up
The Groveton Marimba Band

Audition
Groveton, Texas
(population 1072)



 

Ray Marklund Memorial Toolbox Award
Nikki Matteson

Audition
Lakefield, Minnesota
(population 1679)

Bobby Arnell
Audition
Hardwick, Vermont
(population 1600)
Jill Jones and the Lone Star Chorale
Audition
Driftwood, Texas
(population 350)

Uncle Henry's Favorites
Audition
White Hall, Virginia,
(population 50)


1999 Auditions!
Audio files below in RealAudio 3.0 28.8

White Water
Brad Talley
Mary Lester - The Enchanted Door
Jeanie Carlin
Hill City Slickers
Montana Cardboard String Band



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LIBERTY

Liberty:A Novel of Lake Wobegon A national holiday in Lake Wobegon is always gaudy and joyful. But what is going on between Clint Bunsen and Miss Liberty?
Everyone is here—Pastor Ingqvist, the Sons of Knute, Sister Arvonne of Our Lady of Perpetual Responsibility and her ocarina band, the Norwegian bachelor farmers, Dorothy and the Chatterbox Café, Wally in the Sidetrack Tap—as crowds converge on the little town to celebrate American independence, even as the chairman of the event broods on the great question of the day: Shall we struggle on valiantly here or shall we burst the bonds and find beautiful life in the golden west?



YOU WANT FRIES WITH THAT?

English Majors CD Set Scripts and bits from A Prairie Home Companion celebrate the secret society of men and women who possess excellent spelling and punctuation skills. (You know who you are.) Selections include "The Six-Minute Hamlet," a tribute to Emily Dickinson, a Guy Noir adventure that exposes an MFA scam, a riveting "Professional Organization of English Majors" drama, and guests Billy Collins, Robert Bly, Roy Blount Jr., and Calvin Trillin.


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