Live from Here

Chris Thile, born in 1981, is an American virtuoso mandolinist and singer-songwriter known for his folk and progressive bluegrass work in the trio Nickel Creek and the quintet Punch Brothers. A child prodigy in music—self-described as "begging [his] parents for a mandolin from the time [he] was 2" and picking up the mandolin for the first time at the age of 5 Thile was awarded BBC's Folk Musician of the Year award in 2007, a MacArthur Fellowship "genius" award in 2012, and eight Grammy Award nominations, four of which he won for Best Album in 1997, 2002, 2013, and 2015 (in the categories of Bluegrass, Contemporary Folk, Folk, and Contemporary Instrumental, respectively). Garrison Keillor's personal opinion is that Thile is "the great bluegrass performer of our time." As well, others have observed that "[t]hough charming and cheery, Thile is by nature deeply competitive," and that he understands the business side of matters: for example, that the size of audiences the show attracts will matter. == History ==

History with APHC Guest performances Thile first performed with Garrison Keillor on A Prairie Home Companion in 1996 at age 15. Over the next two decades, Thile returned to APHC eight times (according to the program's website), With regulars Tim Russell, Chris Forth, Tom Keith and "The Guys All-Star Shoe Band" (Richard Dworsky, Andy Stein, Pat Donohue, Greg Hippen, and Arnie Kinsella), and other guests Kate MacKenzie, Michael Cleveland, and Seamus Egan and Solas (Karan Casey, John Doyle, Winifred Horan, and John Williams). Thile performed his songs Shadow Ridge (1992), ''What's the Matter with the Mill? (1996), and Faith River'' (1996), Keillor's song Greenland Whale Fisheries (1996), traditional and other songs (e.g., by Bill Monroe and MacKenzie) including Stoney Lonesome, Mother the Queen of My Heart (1933), ''The Sweetest Gift A Mother's Smile, Don't this Road look Rough and Rocky, Wheel Hoss, and The Red River Valley (1879), as well as the Powdermilk Biscuit Theme''. • June 11, 2016: At the Ravinia Festival, in Highland Park, Illinois. With Punch Brothers. Trial guest hosting When Keillor announced in November 2014 that he would absent himself from APHC for "only the second time in decades," he yielded the host's microphone to Thile for these guest host appearances. Thile began these appearances in 2015 and appeared a total of 4 times in the twelve months thereafter, the final two guest host spots being on January 30 and February 6, 2016. The guest host appearances gave an indication of the type of crew that Thile would assemble, the kinds of guests he would attract, and the style in which he might host (see Format and Cast, below). The hosted programs were on the following dates, and featured the following guest artists: • January 30, 2016, with Thile's fellow Punch Brothers group members, with musical guests Brandi Carlile, Ben Folds and Sarah Jarosz. as the new host. Keillor's final episode of the show was recorded live on July 1, 2016, at the Hollywood Bowl in California for an audience of 18,000 fans and broadcast the next day. Keillor retained artistic rights and trademark to the show's name as well as some distribution rights and rights to retail items connected with A Prairie Home Companion. Thile made his debut as permanent host on October 15, 2016. Name change In November 2017, Minnesota Public Radio severed all business ties with former APHC host Garrison Keillor over unspecified "inappropriate behavior with an individual who worked with him." The Minnesota Public Radio website listed the show under the working title The Show with Chris Thile, as the trademark for A Prairie Home Companion is held by Keillor, not MPR. Thile addressed the situation on the December 2 installment of the series, and Thile began using a new theme, "Radio Boogie". The show aired under the placeholder title of The Show with Chris Thile for the next two Saturdays. Finally, on December 16, Thile announced the show's new name as Live from Here. New APHC format Thile has referred to the program that Keillor created as a "truly great wor[k] of art" and so "immortal," so that he would "keep using the template [Keillor] created to tell each other stories and to escape from our daily cares. Even so, Andrew Leahy of the Rolling Stone wrote that Thile had added to the mandate of "preserving the show's appeal" a further one of "revising its structure and broadening its reach to younger generations." and the signature weekly "News from Lake Wobegon" monologues from Garrison Keillor; still present as of October 2016 were "old favorites" such as the program's faux sponsorship by Powdermilk Biscuits. As of the opening month of the program, the planned replacement for the Keillor monologue was a slate of appearances from standup comics, for instance, the Irish comedian Maeve Higgins. ==Cast and crew==

In addition to Chris Thile, who contributed originally composed music and performances on his various instruments, the musical and acting cast and crew consisted of the following artists: • Bodine Boling, creative director and announcer. • Serena Brook, actress and voice-over artist. • Madison Cunningham, singer and guitarist. • Chris Eldridge, Punch Brothers guitarist. • Mike Elizondo, musician and songwriter. Musical director of Live from Here from September 2018. • Fred Newman, APHC veteran, sound effects artist. Left in 2018. • Rich Dworsky, composer, keyboardist. Musical director of A Prairie Home Companion and Live from Here until September 2018. • Tim Russell, APHC veteran, voice actor and impressionist. Left in 2018. ==Broadcast information==

Local public radio stations carried the weekly production of Live from Here with Chris Thile at one or more broadcast times, varying by station. The NPR Now channel on SiriusXM Satellite Radio carried the program on Saturdays at 5 p.m. and Sundays at 11 a.m., both Central Time (UTC−6). The audio of the program also streamed live online, at livefromhere.org on Saturdays from 5 to 7 p.m. Central, and video streams were likewise available when the program broadcasts from their home venue, The Fitzgerald Theater, or their "home-away-from-home", The Town Hall in New York City. Streaming audio from each show posts following the Saturday broadcast at livefromhere.org, as of March 2018 at noon, Central Time on Sunday. Highlights from the show, including Chris Thile's "Song of the Week", are available via RSS, iHeartRadio, iTunes, Stitcher, and TuneIn. == Comments on the changeover ==

In the announcement of the change in host for the program, American Public Media stated: Keillor, who had made various statements regarding retirement in the past, was described in June 2016 as being "fairly serious this time," and he is quoted as saying "Chris is my man, and I'm eager to stay home and read books." Elaborating further, Keillor wrote to Abe Streep of The New York Times Magazine, indicating that Thile's adventurous nature—alongside his high esteem for "the great bluegrass performer"—were reasons for his consideration as Keillor's replacement, which would be tested via a trial run of guest host appearances in January–February 2016; Keillor wrote, Keillor went on to write about Thile, "He takes big chances ... He can be a chameleon, he can swim in every event, and for all his brilliance, nobody sounds better singing old American songs than he. Nobody." Thile, in discussing the changeover with Minnesota Public Radio, indicated that he would continue to write new musical material, as he has in initial programs since his debut as host: "I would like to write something new every week ... I've written a new song for each show. I want to keep doing that. It's so much fun." In addition, he has highlighted comedy as an element for the new show, noting the success of appearances of comedian Maria Bamford in shows he had hosted early in 2016 which gave "five or six minutes of hilarity." With regard to story telling, he noted the success of an appearance by actor Ed Helms, indicating that the new APHC will "have that kind of thing going on." When asked about future on-air material from show originator and current executive producer Garrison Keillor, Thile replied, "He's such an amazing writer that if he comes up with an idea that would be good for the show ... I imagine we'll get a script here and there." APM business strategy While much media focus during the changeover was on the artistry and styles associated with Keillor and Thile, APHC and American Public Media (APM) are businesses as well; at its peak, the original APHC radio program had garnered in excess of four million weekly listeners, and Rivertown Trading Company, the purveyor of APHC-themed products, was sold in 1998 by Minnesota Public Radio for US$120 million. Sensitive to the potential loss of audience due to the change of the show's hosting—Thile said that he knew he would lose some listeners devoted to Keillor, stating at the time that "[the] goal is to lose one million ... and add two."—the program's distributor, American Public Media, indicated its intent to ease listeners completely away from experiencing the earlier Keillor format by "mix[ing] in" more than a dozen of the new APHC programs with Thile, alongside a set of reruns where Keillor is at the helm. == Critical response ==

Writing for the Chicago Tribune, Steve Johnson noted that the new program "still rel[ies] heavily on an air of authenticity derived from its Minnesota locale, [but] now leans a little more toward music," and "away from storytelling." == References ==