Classic country songs from the 1940s ’50s and ’60s
Are you lonesome tonight? Got heartaches by the number? A hankering for pedal steel guitar, some high lonesome Floyd Cramer piano and a Patsy Cline yodel? Then you gotta go hear Lush Country, an all-star band playing the best country songs of the hi-fi era, from Eddy Arnold to Tammy Wynette and back again. Check out Dan’s calendar page for upcoming dates.
The seven members of Lush Country are longtime Twin Cities headliners and Prairie Home Companion veterans: (from left) Joe Savage (pedal steel & harmonica), Richard Kriehn (guitar, mando & fiddle), Peter Johnson (drums), Gary Raynor (bass), Gary Rue (guitar), Prudence Johnson (lead vocals) and Dan Chouinard (piano & accordion).
Photo by Rick Spaulding.
Inquiries welcome. Contact Dan about Lush Country.
Dan Chouinard (piano, accordion, vocals) is accompanist for a who’s who of Twin Cities performers, an enabler of community sing-alongs and a writer of hit shows for public radio, concert hall and theatrical stage, including Rondo ’56, Steerage Song and Café Europa.
Peter Johnson (percussion) spent years as drummer in A Prairie Home Companion’s Guy’s All-Star Shoe Band. He has played klezmer music with Doc Severinsen and jazz with Dave Brubeck, and was drummer for The Manhattan Transfer and for Gene Pitney. He’s toured the world but always comes back to his home base of Saint Paul.
Prudence Johnson (vocals) is a singer of international acclaim whose repertoire encompasses the great American Songbook and beyond. Her career includes tours in Russia, Israel, and Scandinavia, appearances in films directed by Robert Redford and Robert Altman, regular appearances on Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion, and a dozen albums.
Richard Kriehn (guitar, fiddle, mandolin, vocals) got a mandolin from his mom at age 10. At 19 he won the Buck White International Mandolin Contest. He’s been a featured classical mandolin soloist with numerous orchestras and was a member of the Guy’s All Star Shoe Band for nearly a decade.
Gary Raynor (bass) has performed with the Count Basie band, Sammy Davis Jr., with whom he toured for several years, and the Minnesota Klezmer Band. He’s a top tier Twin Cities bassist in a variety of genres, and can often be seen at Crooners with Marilyn Maye and many others.
Gary Rue (guitar, vocals) has written songs recorded by Helen Reddy and Nick Lowe, and has more than 70 theater musicals to his credit, including The Stinky Cheese Man which has toured internationally. Gary also served as conductor and arranger for ‘60’s pop star Gene Pitney and his 15 piece orchestra until Mr. Pitney’s death in 2006.
Joe Savage (pedal steel) has performed with legendary country singers such as the late Hank Thompson, Margo Smith, Rex Allen, Jr., Jean Shepard, Jeannie Seely, Stonewall Jackson, Jim Ed Brown, David Frizzell, Wanda Jackson, Narvel Felts, Tommy Cash. He worked often with the late Peter Ostroushko and Floyd “Red Crow” Westerman.
(RIP St. Paul native Marcia Hall, 1928-2016, country music trailblazer and MN Rock Country Hall of Fame member. Read more here.)
Learn more about Dan’s other projects:
Dan Chouinard 