Customer Reviews

Church People: The Lutherans of Lake Wobegon (Prairie Home Companion)

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For his take on "Church People," Garrison Keillor has collected some of the best Lutheran bits from A Prairie Home Companion. There are songs, several "New from Lake Wobegon" accounts, skits and other bits of humor, all related in some way to the Lutherans Keillor characterizes as dour makers of hot dishes who are filled with cold country guilt. It's great for a long ride across Kansas in November and other times you need to fill up silent time and space. This is one of his best collections in recent years. Good listening even for Methodists and other more optimistic sorts.

I heard one track on the radio at Christmas and had to get this CD. It was the one on the mythical church organists. I expect to have a lot of fun playing this for friends and family. I am Baptist, not Lutheran, but I still find this a funny CD. No one is made fun of, he just points out the foibles of human nature.

This book on CD had me giggling from beginning to end. As a lifelong Lutheran, as well as a Lutheran pastor's daughter, a choir director and organist, I could totally relate. I Love Garrison Keillor and his humor!

We recently traveled a long distance for Thanksgiving. Church People provided hours of entertainment. There is a wide variety of selections on this collection, all fun to listen to.

Garrison Keillor's "A Prairie Home Companion" has been the source of wonderful music and stories for the past 30-odd years. This collection of material from the show is but the tiniest smidgen of the wonderful things that Keillor and his cast have to offer around the topic of religion. Keillor serves up commercials for Lutheran Airlines (Motto: "An uplifting experience") where dinner is potluck, and for Lutherans On Line, who want a church experience that is more interactive and meaningful (read, "shorter.") We get several segments of the news from Lake Wobegon, dealing with overreaching substitute organists, a baseball beaning that triggers a man's existential crisis, the patriotic wonders of a properly made Fourth of July potato salad and a pastor's angst when the wrong picture gets into the church directory. Guy Noir makes an appearance, helping a young Sunday school teacher who tipsily bared more of herself than her soul. The interview with a woman adrift in her home on the flooded Red River, using crates of Bibles for ballast, was hilarious. The polka band playing old hymns was a hit, as was the piece on summer vacations, the low point of every Midwest Lutheran's warm season.

"Church People," recorded before various live audiences, is heartwarming, irreverent, doleful and joyful by turns. Keillor's deep, sonorous voice is a treasure that never gets old. Worth repeated listens.

If you love Garrison Keillor you have to listen to this. If you have ever enjoyed a church supper, groaned at the church organist, or smiled at Prairie Home Companion, this is a must buy. The music and observations are funny and poignant.

Church People is a wonderful set of two CD's. I think that it has Garrison Keillor at his best. The first "story" on Disc 1, a song titled, "I'm a Lutheran" is great. You may have to listen to it a few times to catch all of the words. The first story on Disc 2 is "Guy Noir: New Year's Eve Indiscretion". It's a hoot that we call all identify with. The other stories are good listening as well but I think that "Guy Noir:", takes the cake. There are 17 stories in the set.

CHURCH PEOPLE is a powerful survey by Midwest lifestyle commentator Garrison Keillor, who comments on the Lutherans of Lake Wobegon who wear cardigans, go to church, and work hard. It's based on live broadcasts of Keillor's A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION and provides a vivid and fun commentary perfect for any lending library!

I thought I was getting a book on CD that would be read by Garrison Kiellor. Instead it is a collection of radio skits. I did listen to all of them, and passed along the CD to my Pastor.