Prudence Johnson

by David Edin

 

Prudence Johnson's silky voice has taken her from the Midwest to the Middle East, honky-tonks to Carnegie Hall, theater stages to the silver screen — appearing in Robert Redford's A River Runs Through It and in Robert Altman's A Prairie Home Companion. But be it concert hall or tiny jazz club, Prudence is the perfect complement. As one music critic put it, "[There's] not a genre she hasn't interpreted with her ducky, sensual alto voice and terminally good taste."

So, how does one go from a small town like Moose Lake, MN, to the world stage? Were you raised in a musical family?
My father has a beautiful voice and loves to sing. For decades, he was the go-to guy in our area for weddings and funerals. Singing together was something we always did; until a certain age, I thought all families did. People ask me how to learn to hear harmony parts. Ummm … your dad teaches you when you’re four?
I wouldn’t say I had ambition, so much as a certainty that that’s what I was meant to do, and I just put one foot in front of the other. My family of course thought I was nuts, especially since I was a young mother trying to make a living as a freelance musician. I believe it was my appearances on the Prairie Home show in the early ’80s ( it was nationally broadcast by then) that changed their minds.

'Remember Me' with Prudence & Garrison


You’ve released more than a dozen albums, collaborated on many more, written and performed in plays, performed in several feature films, released several multimedia projects combining music and history. With all the time at home due to the pandemic, are there any new projects on the horizon?
I was very busy during the darkest days of the pandemic working at an independent bookstore (Birchbark Books) in Minneapolis. I love the world of books and got a part-time job there in 2008, mostly to support my book habit. But over the years, my commitment deepened and I took on a lot of duties there while maintaining a schedule creating new shows, recording, and performing. To everyone’s surprise, when we closed our doors to the public in spring 2020, the store got much busier than ever before. So I wasn’t really isolated and I had very little downtime. I left Birchbark in the end of May after 12 1/2 years and had a great summer, and I’m just now really giving some thought to what’s next. I LOVE being in the studio but I realize I don’t recognize the landscape anymore — the business of making and releasing recordings has changed so fundamentally. Working with Garrison and with Robin and Linda, as the next incarnation of the Hopeful Gospel Quartet, is sort of a “new old” project that I’m really looking forward to.

You have performed on A Prairie Home Companion, toured with the show as part of the Rhubarb tour, been featured in the movie, toured with Garrison . . . do you have any favorite memories? 

Oh! so many. I thought of the Beatles standing in the very same spot on the Hollywood Bowl stage. My granddaughter celebrating her ninth birthday with me on the APHC cruise of the Norwegian fjords. (She's a 23 yr old Registered Nurse now and has great memories of that time) Feeling Leonard Bernstein's spirit at Tanglewood. Red Maddock's glorious smile. I could go on and on.

Do you have a favorite guest musician you've had the opportunity to meet or perform with on the show?
Odetta! She looked right into my soul! Billy Collins and I sang a duet or two--Billy if you're reading this, my crush has never faded. Linda Ronstadt saw I was facing a lonely night of room service and tv after the show and whisked me off to dinner with her friends. What a sweetheart. Back before there were actual actors doing the scripts, Garrison wrote a sketch for Leo Kottke, Chet Atkins and me. I'm still amazed when I think about it.
Prudence talks about the Department of Folk Songs, Sings and takes a few more questions

On the show, you took over as host of the Department of Folk Song for a period of time. . . .did you choose all the songs to feature or do you have a favorite song that you discovered as part of the Department of Folk Song?
I did a lot of research, brought home armloads of books from the library. I discovered a lot of songs from different centuries about women in various kinds of distress which led to projects with the MN Sinfonia as well as a production called Fearless and Fallen, with guitarist Dean Magraw and cellist Michelle Kinney.
As we covered in our feature on the Hopeful Gospel Quartet, you stepped in as the fourth voice for the A Prairie Home Companion film directed by Robert Altman.   Any favorite memories you care to share about the making of the film?

It was so much fun being on set of the movie; I pretended to be a smoker so I could bum cigarettes from Kevin Kline and hang out with him. Meryl Streep & Lily Tomlin--truly excellent & sweet human beings. The day I sang in the quartet was totally spontaneous. Jearlyn Steele wasn't able to be on set that day, I was, and they wanted to shoot that song, so I learned it....fast!

We had just been on tour for about 3 weeks; how Garrison, Richie and the whole band and crew slipped right into that movie schedule I don't know--I was exhausted. I was asked to costume myself so I chose a suit I had worn sometimes on the tour. After a few 10 hour days in it, I dearly wished I'd chosen something more comfortable. (ok, not so much a favorite memory as a regret)

'Let Your Light Shine On Me' from the A Prairie Home Companion film >>>

You will be partnering up with Garrison and Robin & Linda Williams and Dan Chouinard for a few Hopeful Gospel Quartet dates as well as performing several shows with Garrison . . . do you have a favorite duet to sing with Garrison?
I do! We sing one lately by Ann Reed called If You Were Mine, and one I hope we revive someday is If I Needed You by Townes Van Zandt. Both are sweet wistful love songs and sort of hypnotic to sing. The four voices together is a whole different thing; it's a powerful sound and it's going to be a lot of fun. And any time I spend making music with Dan is happy time.
'Lullaby for Lesha' from Little Dreamer

Since you are a teacher, any prescient advice for someone who wants to pursue a career in music?

Not all jobs require the integration of physical skills, intellect and the heart--some only require one of those--so it's a rare gift to make one's living doing something so spiritually gratifying. Offer your music with love and it will have an impact, and no matter how you weather the ups and downs of the music "business," it will feed your soul.

As a singer, I think of myself foremost as a storyteller, and I encourage young singers, when they are tempted to get frilly and fancy, to concentrate on telling the story.

'Early' with Prudence & Garrison

How can fans best keep up with your latest projects or where you will be appearing?
I may possibly be the world's worst self-promoter, but I am in the process of designing a new website (the current one has been terribly neglected. If you looked at it, you'd probably think I'd died!) But I do usually post notices of performances on facebook. Check in with prudencejohnson.com in a month or so--I have music and projects I'd love to share with you all.

1353 comments

  • Hello contact SUPERIOR . HACK @ GMAIL . COM OR WHSTAPP +14105350697 for your hacking jobs i can assure you that you would get the best out of the job they helped me hack into my spouse phone and recovered the stolen cryptocurrency we had together for our future cis he found another woman he wanted to leave with my hard earned money I’m talking crypto in large volumes he also cleared my bad credit report contact him and come back thanking me that’s all i can say

    evelyn murphy

  • Formerly I presumed I would never be able to retrieve the money I had lost to fraudsters. I made an investment with a bitcoin investing website in the First quarter of 2024 just to discover that it was a scam. I got in touch with a few hackers in an effort to get my money back, but they all turned out to be swindlers who took my hard-earned cash. I was in a predicament, distraught, and certain that I had descended to my lowest point. All that changed when I came across a review of CYBER RECOVERY WEB online. An alternative could not cut to the quick because I was eager to recover all of the money I had spent on that website, that was the end of my troubles. I made the decision to try my luck once more, to which I got in touch with CYBER RECOVERY WEB and everything changed. The firm stepped in and quickly aided in the recovery of all of my money. I can attest to their high level of commitment and that they got the best recovery staff. You can also contact the firm by using:
    Email: Cyberrecoveryweb@mail.com
    Telegram: @Cyberrecoveryweb
    Whatsapp: +1(442)2892816

    xwd

  • The insights gleaned from this painstaking process can be nothing short of revelatory, providing scorned individuals with the cold, hard evidence needed to confront their partner’s betrayal and reclaim a sense of truth and transparency in the relationship. Yet the implications of CYBER TECH WIZARD   extend far beyond the personal realm, as these techniques also hold the power to expose broader patterns of deception, manipulation, and abuse that may have remained hidden for years. As this field continues to evolve, it promises to be a crucial tool in the fight against the corrosive effects of unfaithfulness, empowering those who have been wronged to unravel the deception and forge a path towards healing and accountability. Don’t wary if you have been scammed from your hard earn money you can recover them all back, call CYBER TECH WIZARD   now through: WhatSapp  (+)1 520 552 9379  Email Address cybertechwizard@cyberservices.com  Zohomail….contact {AT} cyber-tech-wizard.ltd

    Good Day and thank me later.

    Franklin Mahone

  • HOW CAN I RECOVER MY LOST BITCOIN

    OPTIMISTIC HACKER GAIUS is the most trustworthy and dependable online recovery agent. He is the best recovery agent I have ever come across. I have worked with a lot of them. A few months ago, someone deceived me into thinking they were an online Forex broker and stole €318,000 worth of Bitcoin from me. After making an investment on this website, I eventually had to make more payments in order to receive my earnings. I realized that I was being exploited and duped at the same time. I saw a ton of testimonials about OPTIMISTIC HACKER GAIUS online, describing how he helped a lot of people get their money back. In about three days, when I emailed him, he surprisingly restored all I had lost.
    Get in Touch

    Website.. http://optimistichackergaius.com
    Email..support@optimistichackergaius.com
    Telegram.. t.me/OPTIMISTICHACKERGAIUSS

    Mark David

  • Contact SUPERIOR . HACK @ GMAIL . COM or whatsapp +14106350697 for any hacking job or pi job they are very good and discreet with their job they helped hack into my spouse phone, increased my credit scpre and helped with my stolen cryptocurrency contact and trust meyou would comeback thanking me

    LLOYD SMITH

Leave a comment

Back to Garrison Keillor