Chris Thile Guest-Hosting Prairie Home Companion

[Gerry Cassidy]

I don't post very much, but I saw this on Thile's FB page that he would be guest-hosting a couple PHC's in February.

I wonder if he would take it as a permanent gig someday in the future? He has just that right touch of Garrison Keillor zaniness in his personality.

Garrison is approaching the age where he might be thinking.... hmmmm.

What do y'all think?

[JeffD]

Has there ever been a guest host of PHC??

I don't think there has. I don't ever remember hearing one.

Fun to speculate - is Chris looking to perhaps someday do a variety show of that type?

The Chris Thile show, a mandolin themed variety show would be sooooooo cool. And he would be an obvious choice for it.

But not yet. He has too much amazing mandolinning to do.

I would love to hear him interview Avi Avital. That would be an amazing piece of radio.

[terzinator]

Has there ever been a guest host of PHC??

I don't think there has. I don't ever remember hearing one.

Interestingly, the only other guest host was... Sara Watkins.

[Steve Lavelle]

Actually, his bandmate Sara Watkins Guest hosted PHC at least once. She was just OK.

[Gerry Cassidy]

Garrison seems to do quite a bit of side work, so I think Chris would be able to still do some mandolin work. Of course, all of the touring would have to be cut back significantly. I would think, just getting married, he may not mind that? Just guessing on that one.

I really would like to see PHC continue on for years to come and I think he may be a good person to "Run the show" for a few years.

[Ryk Loske]

Adam Granger has guest hosted and i believe so did Butch Thompson. I'm pretty sure there were others. It's rare but certainly not unprecedented.

Ryk

[roysboy]

I'm pretty sure Thile has been cloned . He's just in too many places at once with too many albums , projects and gigs for any one man to juggle .

[JeffD]

Adam Granger has guest hosted and i believe so did Butch Thompson. I'm pretty sure there were others. It's rare but certainly not unprecedented.

Ryk

Wow. I just never would have guessed.

I would have thought it nearly impossible, as the show is so personality driven. It must be really hard to host without changing the character of the show.

[BradKlein]

Garrison Keillor has announced his plan to retire as host some time ago. However, I believe that he'll keep an active role, perhaps Exec Producer of PHC, and perhaps continue to appear on the show. That said, it's hard to imagine him as anything but EXTREMELY hands on as an EP, and that might be problematic with a strong willed creative force like CT. But… who knows? These are the challenges that every creative endeavor brings.

[JeffD]

If Chris were to do a regular radio show - I would much prefer it to be an interview show, one guest per show. The guest could be a mandolinner or not, but someone whose musical accomplishments are of real interest to Chris. (When Chris is really interested, I seem to want to be interested as well.) Something like a multi-genre version of Marian McPartlan's Piano Jazz, where artist meets artist and they talk some - play some - play together some.

If they were careful to avoid too much mutual admiration it could be a really compelling radio hour, or podcast, or whatever hour.

Really compelling.

[Ed Goist]

Not only has Sara Watkins hosted APHC, but she and her brother Sean have been doing a very similar show for several years:

WATKINS FAMILY HOUR
The Watkins Family Hour is a monthly residency at the Los Angeles venue, Largo, led by siblings Sean and Sara Watkins. For the past nine years they've brought in an eclectic group of guest musicians including Benmont Tench, Fiona Apple, Grant Lee Phillips, Jackson Browne, John C. Reily, among others.



Many of the past shows can be listened to via podcasts available on Sara Watkins' website.

[Ryk Loske]

" ..... I would have thought it nearly impossible, as the show is so personality driven. It must be really hard to host without changing the character of the show."

That's been the problem with PHC for me for a Loooooonnnnnng time. PHC was a great show until it morphed into the Garrison Keillor Show. ALL Garrison .... ALL the time. I stopped listening. Mayhaps with a change at host the program can revert to something like the wonderful one it had been.

Ryk

[CavScout]

I hear you Ryk, I used to be a big fan of the show going way-back...not so much last 15 years. I actually wonder if there can be a PHC without GK at the helm. The first time I saw him was in 1974 when PHC was a traveling show. They were doing the show in a small auditorium at Mankato State College in southern MN. He wore hogwashers and sported a great long beard, played the autoharp, the show was GREAT. I lived around the corner from him for a few years in St. Paul, MN...used to see him mowing his lawn with one of those rotary push mowers (this was about 1983-84). But I heard stories around that time that Garrison in "real life" was much different than Garrison the stage character. Sort of like Dave Letterman who is a zany cutup on stage but almost void of personality when you see him interviewed. But the DNA of PHC seems to share so much genetic material with GK that I wonder of there cold be a non-GK version. I remember seeing Peter Ostroushko interviewed once and he told some really funny stories. The interviewer commented that Peter's stories were really entertaining and why didn't he share some of them on PHC. Peter's response..."there is only one storyteller on Garrison's show".

[bayAreaDude]

GK is irreplaceable. It's the upper midwest to the bone - few that don't come from there could write the news from Lake Wobegon. Keiller is an author, a poet, a musician, a comedian, an entertainer. All I really know about Thile all has to do with music. The show is so much more than that. I'm sure I'd enjoy an acoustic music themed variety show hosted by about anybody, but it will never replace GK's version of PHC.

[mrmando]

I don't post very much, but I saw this on Thile's FB page that he would be guest-hosting a couple PHC's in February.

I wonder if he would take it as a permanent gig someday in the future? He has just that right touch of Garrison Keillor zaniness in his personality.

What do you know? Gerry nailed it!
http://www.avclub.com/article/garris...s-airwa-221476

Unlike the author of this piece, whom I'd like to hit in the mouth with a banjo, I love Keillor and will miss him dearly...

[Scott Tichenor]

I'd be in total agreement. I'm not a fan of that writer.

I have someone seeing Chris in a few hours and we're going to confirm this. A.V. started out as a part of The Onion but is said to now be a valid news source. I'm still dubious, but one of my sources said someone is definitely up with PB.

[Al Trujillo]

Unlike the author of this piece, whom I'd like to hit in the mouth with a banjo, I love Keillor and will miss him dearly...

Terrible waste of a banjo.

[Ed Goist]

Support for this posted yesterday afternoon by Minnesota Public Radio:
Keillor hints at 2016 ‘transition’ on A Prairie Home Companion

Ironically, I've been thinking for the past few years that Thile's bandmate in Nickel Creek Sara Watkins would be the next APHC host. She and her brother locally host a similar program in California, and that choice would have made sense also.

If this happens it will certainly boost the visibility of the instrument...Thile could become the "latter-day Jethro Burns"

[journeybear]

Terrible waste of a banjo.

Nah, excellent use of a banjo. To the writer - attitude much?

I heard this from Fast Eddie (above), whose involvement in public radio leads me to believe he is an impeccable source in such matters. My response was: Whoa! What? I guess this is good news, even if it means he'll be cutting down on performing somewhat. Actually, this could really move the mandolin into the general public's consciousness at a higher level than any event since Grisman hit the scene, perhaps even more so.

Oh, and: You better post this to the Café before I do. Which he did, but we were both scooped by even faster Café members.

PS: Do yourself a favor and DO NOT read the comments to the article. So much spite being spat about such a genial show. My oh my!

[JH Murray]

Thile will get to put his own stamp on the show and he will bring some new voices to the mix. I wouldn't be surprised if the Watkins are part of that. They would make a great house band!

[k0k0peli]

Yeah, but once he gets rich'n'famous, he'll sell out, right? Maybe even start writing for the New Yorker. Oh, the humanity...

[Gerry Cassidy]

Thile will get to put his own stamp on the show and he will bring some new voices to the mix. I wouldn't be surprised if the Watkins are part of that. They would make a great house band!

I would hope he (Thile) would take into consideration the current PHC house band is already great.

[Paul Busman]

Agreed-- the PHC band is already terrific and can rock all genres of music. Chris's voice and playing will be a great addition, and his personality suits the show to a T..

[Petrus]

Does he own a Loar-signed Gibson? I think I read that someplace, but it may just have said Loar-era Gibson. I'm sure someone here knows the answer.

[BradKlein]

He owns two! Details HERE in the Cafe interview that went with the release of his first CD of Bach solo violin pieces. (part two of that interview is on hold, maybe until the release of the second CD?)

Does he own a Loar-signed Gibson? I think I read that someplace, but it may just have said Loar-era Gibson. I'm sure someone here knows the answer.