Audiobooks by Garrison Keillor

Boom Town: A Lake Wobegon Novel Audiobook

"Return to America’s most beloved fictional hometown! Lake Wobegon is having a boom year thanks to millennial entrepreneurship—AuntMildred’s.com Gourmet Meatloaf, for example, or Universal Fire, makers of artisanal firewood seasoned with sea salt. Meanwhile, the author flies in to give eulogies at the funerals of five classmates, including a couple whom he disliked, and he finds a wave of narcissism crashing on the rocks of Lutheran stoicism. He is restored by the humor and grace of his old girlfriend Arlene and a visit from his wife, Giselle, who arrives from New York for a big love scene in an old lake cabin."

Garrison Keillor (Author), Garrison Keillor (Narrator)

Audiobook

That Time of Year: A Minnesota Life

"In That Time of Year, Garrison Keillor looks back on his life and recounts how a Brethren boy with writerly ambitions grew up in a small town on the Mississippi in the 1950s and, seeing three good friends die young, turned to comedy and radio. Through a series of unreasonable lucky breaks, he founded A Prairie Home Companion and put himself in line for a good life, including mistakes, regrets, and a few medical adventures. PHC lasted forty years, 750 shows, and enjoyed the freedom to do as it pleased for three or four million listeners every Saturday at 5 p.m. Central. He got to sing with Emmylou Harris and Renee Fleming and once sang two songs to the US Supreme Court. He played a private eye and a cowboy, gave the news from his hometown, Lake Wobegon, and met Somali cabdrivers who'd learned English from listening to the show. He wrote bestselling novels, won a Grammy and a National Humanities Medal, and made a movie with Robert Altman with an alarming amount of improvisation. He says, 'I was unemployable and managed to invent work for myself that I loved all my life, and on top of that I married well. That's the secret, work and love. And I chose the right ancestors, impoverished Scots and Yorkshire farmers, good workers. I'm heading for eighty, and I still get up to write before dawn every day.'"

Garrison Keillor (Author), Garrison Keillor (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Lake Wobegon Virus: A Novel

"Bestselling author and humorist Garrison Keillor returns to one of America's most beloved mythical towns, beset by a contagion of alarming candor. A mysterious virus has infiltrated the good people of Lake Wobegon, transmitted via unpasteurized cheese made by a Norwegian bachelor farmer, the effect of which is episodic loss of social inhibition. Mayor Alice, Father Wilmer, Pastor Liz, the Bunsens and Krebsbachs, formerly taciturn elders, burst into political rants, inappropriate confessions, and rhapsodic proclamations, while their teenagers watch in amazement. Meanwhile, a wealthy outsider is buying up farmland for a Keep America Truckin' motorway and amusement park, estimated to draw 2.2 million visitors a year. Clint Bunsen and Elena the hometown epidemiologist to the rescue, with a Fourth of July Living Flag and sweet corn feast for a finale. In his newest Lake Wobegon novel, Garrison Keillor takes us back to the small prairie town where for so long American readers and listeners have found laughter as well as the wry airing of our foibles and most familiar desires and fears—a town where, as we know, 'all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average.'"

Garrison Keillor (Author), Garrison Keillor (Narrator)

Audiobook

A Prairie Home Companion: Live from the Hollywood Bowl

"After 40-plus years of delighting radio audiences each Saturday night with America's favorite live variety show, A Prairie Home Companion founder and host Garrison Keillor bids farewell with an unforgettable performance from the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, California. It's a duet singing extravaganza, with Sara Watkins, Sarah Jarosz, Aoife O'Donovan, Heather Masse, and Christine DiGiallonardo joining Garrison on time-honored American ballads, British Invasion romps, country-western weepers, and Broadway classics. Plus: The Royal Academy of Radio Actors, Tim Russell, Sue Scott, and Fred Newman, with L.A. tales and sound effects straight from rush hour on the 101; Music Director and pianist Richard Dworsky moves wondrously from stride and spirituals through surf instrumentals and a bit of Rock n Roll; a special sendoff from President Barack Obama; and one last update on the News from Lake Wobegon, the little town that time forgot, and the decades cannot improve."

Garrison Keillor (Author), Garrison Keillor, Richard Dworsky, Royal Academy Of Radio Actors, Special Guests (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Best of Guy Noir Collector’s Edition

"It's a dark night in a city that knows how to keep its secrets, but high above the mean streets, a light burns on the 12th floor of the Acme Building, where Guy Noir—hard boiled, world-weary, yet surprisingly articulate—is trying to find the answers to life's questions. In his big swivel chair under the bare bulb beside the beat-up gray file cabinet, he awaits the call of his clientele: the disappointed, the paranoid, the embittered, the rejected—and the hilarious. Garrison Keillor's private eye spoof has thrilled audiences every week for over twenty years on live public radio broadcasts of A Prairie Home Companion. Now, for the very first time, thirty-six all-time favorite Guy Noir episodes are available in one collection. Follow the intrepid detective as he solves cases no other gumshoe would touch, and enjoy Keillor’s intelligent—but always funny—spin on the classic detective genre. Featuring Garrison Keillor, Sue Scott, Tim Russell, Fred Newman, Tom Keith, Walter Bobbie and special guests, with music by Richard Dworsky."

Garrison Keillor (Author), Garrison Keillor, Royal Academy Of Radio Actors, Special Guests (Narrator)

Audiobook

Sounding Off! Garrison Keillor’s Classic Sound Effect Sketches featuring Fred Newman

"For some fans of public radio's beloved A Prairie Home Companion, it's all about the wild, unpredictable, 'how does he do that?' artistry of sound effects specialist Fred Newman. Hand-picked from nearly two decades of live broadcasts, Sounding Off! spotlights Fred's unique talents in performance with host Garrison Keillor and the hilarious radio acting cast of A Prairie Home Companion. Fred's vocal characterizations are boundless, and his sound arsenal features loons and babies, singing whales and stomping pterodactyls, lovesick elk, patriotic dolphins, rampaging chainsaws, and much more. The collectible CD edition features a full-color booklet with photo-essay and notes by Fred Newman, offering a behind-the-scenes tour his sound effects artistry."

Fred Newman, Garrison Keillor (Author), Fred Newman, Garrison Keillor (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Road Home: News From Lake Wobegon

"Some say a place is home when you know where all the roads go. Over in Lake Wobegon, all the roads take you there, and it's never been any different. And what you learn along the way is that—quicker than any road sign or street map or pair of shiny red shoes—all you really need is a story to get you from here to there. A story about an ordinary day, any ordinary day. About a young woman and her bridal shower, about a fishing shack and when it's prudent to drive out on the ice. A story about springtime, and air thick with desire, or about the advantages of dynamite when you're digging a grave in winter. Interim pastors, and lutefisk dinners, hunting pheasant in autumn and a food fight with spaghetti. Home is a fine place to listen. No need for a parka. No need to get up. Just light the fire, make some popcorn and hit 'Play.' The Road Home will take you all the way to where you already are. No place like it. No place at all. Garrison Keillor has been delighting audiences for four decades now with heartfelt, moving, and downright hilarious tales from the shores of Lake Wobegon. Never before collected, these expertly crafted stories are full of gentle humor, genuine emotion, and (more often than not) surprising insights into family, relationships, community, faith, and hope."

Garrison Keillor (Author), Garrison Keillor (Narrator)

Audiobook

A Prairie Home Companion Pretty Good Jokes Live!

"Even more of a good thing: the latest collection of knee-slappers, toe-tappers, and groaners from A Prairie Home Companion Joke Shows. 'What does IDK stand for?' 'I don't know.' 'OMG, nobody does!' . . . What is a hippie's wife called? Mississippi . . . What is the recipe for Honeymoon Salad? Lettuce alone without dressing.' Jokes are made for sharing, and everyone loves to laugh. This nonstop collection gathers the best jokes from the most recent Joke Show (11/4/2014) plus special joke segments from 2011 to the present, all recorded before live before doubled-over audiences in Minneapolis, St. Paul, and New York . . . Performers include show regulars—Garrison Keillor, Sue Scott, Tim Russell, Tom Keith, and Richard Dworsky—along with special guests. There's music from the Guy's All-Star Shoe Band, a bucketful of Halloween jokes, a musical tribute to bad jokes, a celebration of Jewish Jokes from New York radio legend Larry Josephson, Ole and Lena jokes, a Guy Noir sketch, Dusty and Lefty, and of course, even more jokes."

Garrison Keillor (Author), Garrison Keillor (Narrator)

Audiobook

A Prairie Home Companion 40th Anniversary Collection

"Since A Prairie Home Companion first went on air, July 6, 1974, a steady stream of great musicians has crossed its stage—The Steele Sisters, Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings, Peter Ostroushko, The Wailin Jennys, Robin and Linda Williams Iris DeMent, Howard Levy—plus the radio detective Guy Noir, the Cowboys Dusty and Lefty, the librarian Ruth Harrison, Duane and his Mother, and the good people of Lake Wobegon, Minnesota. An all-star roster of favorite performers joined to celebrate the anniversary on the lawn of Macalester College in St. Paul, a stone's throw from the hall where the first broadcast was made. Some highlights from that show are presented here, interwoven with archival performances by Doc Watson, Odetta, Pete Seeger, Helen Schneyer, Chet Atkins, Bill Hinkley & Judy Larson, Soupy Schindler, and Tom Keith. "

Garrison Keillor (Author), Garrison Keillor (Narrator)

Audiobook

A Prairie Home Companion: Duets 2

"Singing greats celebrate the art of the duet from live broadcasts of A Prairie Home Companion Duet singing continues to be one of the hallmarks of A Prairie Home Companion, America's favorite live radio variety show. Following in the grand tradition of the original A Prairie Home Companion Duets collection, Duets 2 gathers even more outstanding performances from the show's archives, revealing the magic that occurs when two voices meet in front of a live audience. Duets 2 features performances from some of the greatest names in the music world, including Garrison Keillor and Sara Watkins, The Every Brothers, Emmylou Harris and Mark Knopfler, Robin and Linda Williams, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, Jearlyn and Jevetta Steele, Suzy Bogguss and Steve Wariner, The Civil Wars, The Cactus Blossoms, Storyhill, Jim Kweskin and Geoff Muldaur, Heather Masse and Aoife O'Donovan, and many more!"

Garrison Keillor (Author), Various Performers (Narrator)

Audiobook

O, What a Luxury: Verses Lyrical, Vulgar, Pathetic & Profound

"In his second collection of poetry (the first 77 Love Sonnets) Keillor writes—with his characteristic combination of humor and insight—on love, modernity, nostalgia, politics, religion, and other facets of daily life. Keillor’s verses are charming and playful, locating sublime song within the humdrum of being human."

Garrison Keillor (Author), Garrison Keillor (Narrator)

Audiobook

Tim Russell: Man of a Thousand Voices (A Prairie Home Companion)

"Fans of A Prairie Home Companion know him as Garrison Keillor’s grumbling sidekick Dusty “The Lives of the Cowboys,” an array of wise-cracking wise-guys from the mean streets of “Guy Noir, Private Eye,” or Jim, the beleaguered husband from A Prairie Home Companion’s famously catchup-deprived midlife couple. One minute he’s George Bush or Julia Child, Barack Obama or Arnold Schwarzenegger. So here’s the fearless Tim Russell in 19 hilarious performances from A Prairie Home Companion, embracing every hairpin turn, crazy curve, or unexpected plot twist a live radio show heard by millions each week can possibly throw at the man of a thousand voices."

Garrison Keillor (Author), Tim Russell, Tom Keith (Narrator)

Audiobook