Monday Music: Remembering Peter Ostroushko

Like many people, I first heard Peter Ostroushko while listening to A Prairie Home Companion on Public Radio. The son of Ukrainian immigrants, Ostroushko played mandolin, fiddle, and guitar. He played the folk songs of his heritage and composed new songs that were both intimate and expansive. Here he is performing his composition, "Heart of the Heartland," on A Prairie Home Companion. Also included below is his visit to Mister Rogers Neighborhood to talk about the mandolin and Ukraine songs. 

Peter Ostroushko died on February 24, 2021, at the age of 67. Garrison Keilor said of him in a Star Tribune article,  "Peter had a real calling and stayed true to it." Referring to Ostroushko's performances on A Prairie Home Companion, Keilor observed, "To me, it was only a show, but to him it was church, and when he picked up a mandolin, he played for his folks, his people, for Marge [his wife] and Anna, the family, for northeast Minneapolis. He played the blues and made it Ukrainian. He could play 'I Saw Her Standing There,' and she was standing in the middle of Kyiv. He never tried to find himself. He knew who he was the whole time."

When my daughter was just a tike I would often watch Mister Rogers Neighborhood with her. I remember being delighted when I saw the episode of Fred Rogers' visit with Peter Ostroushko. I had heard his name on the radio when I would tune into A Prairie Home Companion, but this was my first time to see him.

 

And here, Peter is at an outdoor concert and tells about his very first recording gig with none other than Bob Dylan. He then plays Dylan's "Girl from the North Country."

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