Prairie Home Companion, Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, TN - 3/26/2011

Going to this show definitely entailed a certain acceptance of getting older, hopefully graying gracefully and with dignity. I've sporadically enjoyed the Prairie Home Companion radio show for years, somewhat secretively, and knowing that Garrison Keillor is planning retirement in 2013, I felt like this was quite a chance to see the show live.

Much to our surprise, there were a lot of young faces at this sold out show on a rainy, gusty Saturday. It was interesting to be in the Ryman during daylight hours with sunshine pouring through the stained glass windows.  They were actually selling beer (another shocker for me), so we grabbed some drinks and made it to our seats.

The musical numbers spread throughout the evening included Sam Bush, the Civil Wars (who sounded great live, though their album is a bit slick for my taste), Sara Watkins and Emmylou Harris.  The comedy bits included some of the musicians, Keillor sang with the various artists as he is wont to do, the news from Lake Woebegon was pretty enchanting but on the lighter side.  Keillor called Broadway a National Park of honkeytonks, which I think is a pretty cool descriptoin.  It was pretty magical to see these performers (including the PHC regulars) put on such a production and keep it old-timey yet very relevant and fun.

We capped this off with a trip to Robert's, which as always did not disappoint ...