Thursday, August 27, 5:00pm - $79/reserved, $40/gemeral admission

As a permanently displaced Minnesotan whose garage is adorned with Minnesota Vikings fan paraphernalia and hockey equipment, I have a special place in my heart for Garrison Keillor. It’s not that I like folk music or obsess over the weekly news from Lake Wobegon. It’s that as a the son of a life-long Minnesota Public Radio member, I had no choice but to be pulled into Keillor’s elaborate fictional world which he spun every Saturday night from the Fitzgerald Theater in my hometown of St. Paul, Minnesota.

Since that time Keillor’s variety show has traveled the world, including a stint where he temporarily relocated to New York City. These days he’s back where he belongs, in St. Paul, which as most Minnesotans, know is only a two-hour drive from Lake Wobegon. But you don’t have to travel 2,000 miles to see Keillor in person.

Tuesday, September 6, 6:00pm - $62/reserved, $39/general admission

Over the past seven years, Ray LaMontagne has – in addition to growing and subsequently maintaining one of the music industry’s finest beards – become one of the country’s most revered songwriters. With a style that ranges from whispery ballads to dance-friendly rock songs that showcase the talented crew of musicians he’s known to gather as his band.

We first had the pleasure of meeting LaMontagne back in 2004 when he released Trouble, a collection of awesomely beautiful songs that made us wonder why we’d never heard from this jewel of the Northeast. Well, as it turned out, that was because LaMontagne had spent most of his 20s working in a shoe factory, tutoring and working other odd jobs before he fully devoted his life to music. But his appeal soon grew as his folk-inspired Americana tunes attracted a loyal following of fans, leading to festival appearances and larger-scale tours. He followed that up with Till the Sun Turns Black, another disc that showcased LaMontagne’s excellent crooning.

But in 2008, LaMontagne reached his widest audience yet with Gossip in the Grain, which featured the hit single, “You Are the Best Thing,” a horn-filled track that showed the artist – known for his reclusive nature and residency at a remote farm in Maine – at his most outgoing. This year, under the name Ray LaMontagne and the Pariah Dogs, he released another more upbeat record that includes a collaboration with a number of great musicians, many of whom will appear with LaMontagne in Bend. Again, LaMontagne is often reserved and known for his privacy, so don’t expect a ton of stage banter. But with a voice like his, LaMontagne doesn’t need to rely on banter.