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Today is the birthday of a couple of very important men in the music world. Willie Nelson was born in Abbott, Texas in 1933. There is no doubt about his genius and his contribution to the music industry. He is still going strong.

The other genius born on this day in 1942 was Bill Kling. He started what was to become Minnesota Public Radio, here on the third floor of Wimmer Hall on the campus of St. John’s University in January of 1967. Yet another genius, Garrison Keillor, spent a week in Nashville writing a piece about the Grand Ole Opry for The New Yorker in March of 1974. He was sitting in a hotel room listening to the show on the radio when the idea came to him to do a radio show back in Minnesota. When he got home he went to Bill Kling with the idea and in Garrison’s words, “He took it hook, line and sinker – no committee meetings, no exchange of memos, no long discussions, just a plain yes – and A Prairie Home Companion went on the air July 6, 1974.” It is very impressive when one genius recognizes the genius of others. Happy birthday Bill.

The APHC show this week is the second of two live broadcasts from Texas, this time form the magnificent Grand 1894 Opera House in Galveston. Singer and songwriter Stephanie Davis joins Garrison to sing a few duets. She is a fourth generation Montanan now making her home in the Lone Star State. Literary mezzo-soprano Jennifer Rivera will be on hand with a few songs, right at home in the Romanesque Revival Hall. The Royal Academy of Radio Actors and the band, directed by Rich Dworsky, will fill the bill. The latest News from Lake Wobegon will focus on spring and gardening. Enjoy the show.

“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to get through this thing called life” Prince – from the 1984 song “Let’s Go Crazy”