4th Of July On Wyoming Public Radio
11:00am-2:00pm: Ranch Breakfast Show With Tom Wilhelm
The Ranch Breakfast Show will begin with a bang as Mark O'Connor plays "The Star-Spangled Banner," followed by lots of songs about freedom, barbeque, and fireworks. I'll throw in a couple of authentic American folk songs. Of course, there will a couple songs from the Red, White, and Bluegrass band.
2:00pm-4:00pm: American Routes - July 4th Weekend With Jerry Garcia And The Grateful Dead
For 50 years in various incarnations, the Grateful Dead have held forth as America's iconic roots rock, jamming tour band. This July 4th, as Dead fans gather for a final series of concerts in Chicago, we revisit a classic American Routes program that featured the musical sources of the Dead in blues, old-time country, folk and jazz. We also reprise an in-depth interview that Nick did as part of an oral history with the late guitarist and bandleader Jerry Garcia at the Smithsonian Institution.
Garcia often presented himself as an alternative huckster version of Uncle Sam complete with a stars and stripes top hat. His Americanist vision was grounded in the diversity of traditional music that he loved, electrified and improvised upon. In addition to Jerry and a wide range of music, the Dead Heads also have their say about the nature of a Grateful Dead live show. So come hear "Uncle John's Band!" Join us as we go "Truckin'," and May the Fourth Be With You!
6:00pm-8:00pm: A Prairie Home Companion With Garrison Keillor
This week: it's back to where it all began, Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota, for our Second Annual 40th Anniversary Live Broadcast and 4th of July Season Finale. There's great American music with JD McPherson, rock-solid rambles from Joe Newberry, and roof-raising soul from Jearlyn and Jevetta Steele. Butch Thompson adds his quintessential piano and clarinet and Tjarnblom rounds things out with a celebration of Minnesota's Scandinavian heritage. Also: a crush of characters from Tim Russell and Sue Scott, and sound effects man Fred Newman sparks fireworks and rockets; music director Rich Dworsky and the band serve up sweltering slices; and the News from Lake Wobegon, with the tried and true traditions of Independence Day in the tiny town. Light the sparklers, spin the pinwheels, and we'll see you on the airwaves for one more live broadcast before we load up and hit the road for our exciting summer tour.
9:00pm-10:00pm: Born On The 4th Of July: A Popular Song Celebration Of Independence Day
Celebrate the birth and legacy of America with music from a reissued album of duets from national icons Bing Crosby and Louis Armstrong (whose birthday was long thought to fall on the same day as the holiday) and patriotic popular song from Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Paul Robeson, Peggy Lee, Margaret Whiting, Duke Ellington, Ray Charles and Paul Desmond.