Peter Ostroushko passed.

[Cosmic Wonder]

Poached this from Mary Flower’s Facebook post.

Another angel has joined the heavenly band. Peter Ostroushko passed today. MN based brilliant musician, composer and much loved guy. He was often on Prairie Home Companion in the earlier days. So sorry to hear this news. If you've never heard his music, find some tonight.

Sadness. RIP.

Mike

[TKennedy]

Damn. That's a biggie. RIP.

[t-bob]

[Deleted]

Peter Ostroushko was a great musician and a great human. Living in the Twin Cities, it was a treat getting to see him play with some regularity, either solo or with Dean Magraw and even the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra.

My one Peter Ostroushko story: Years ago, I had a girlfriend who loved his stuff. For her birthday, I wanted to get her an autographed copy of one of his CDs, but had no idea how to do that. As I recall, I called up good friend Loretta Simonet (of the folk duo Curtis & Loretta) and asked her if she knew how to get in touch with him, and her reply was along the lines of, "Why don't you just call him?"

She gave me his number so I called him. He said just drop by with the CD and birthday girl. So one day on our lunch hour, we got in the car and I told her we were going to Minneapolis and that was it. Pulled up to a house, got out and knocked on the door and she was floored when OH GOD! IT'S PETER OSTROUSHKO! answered.

He graciously spent an hour or so chatting with us and could not have been nicer. Like I said, he was a great musician and a great guy. Over the years, he gave us so much great and creative music. It entertained. It excited. It comforted. It told a story. He will be missed.

If you're not familiar with his music, you should be. You won't be disappointed. He was one of the good guys.

[drlj]

Very sad to read this. He was an amazing musician.

[theevan]

Feb 25, 2021 5:32:51 GMT -5 @dhanners55 said:

Peter Ostroushko was a great musician and a great human. Living in the Twin Cities, it was a treat getting to see him play with some regularity, either solo or with Dean McGraw and even the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra.

My one Peter Ostroushko story: Years ago, I had a girlfriend who loved his stuff. For her birthday, I wanted to get her an autographed copy of one of his CDs, but had no idea how to do that. As I recall, I called up good friend Loretta Simonet (of the folk duo Curtis & Loretta) and asked her if she knew how to get in touch with him, and her reply was along the lines of, "Why don't you just call him?"

She gave me his number so I called him. He said just drop by with the CD and birthday girl. So one day on our lunch hour, we got in the car and I told her we were going to Minneapolis and that was it. Pulled up to a house, got out and knocked on the door and she was floored when OH GOD! IT'S PETER OSTROUSHKO! answered.

He graciously spent an hour or so chatting with us and could not have been nicer. Like I said, he was a great musician and a great guy. Over the years, he gave us so much great and creative music. It entertained. It excited. It comforted. It told a story. He will be missed.

If you're not familiar with his music, you should be. You won't be disappointed. He was one of the good guys.

Great story.

[billhammond]

We knew this was coming, but it's still powerful news. Such a wonderful, funny, creative, talented artist.


By Jon Bream, Star Tribune
FEBRUARY 25, 2021 — 6:54AM

Nobody at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church was quite ready for musician Peter Ostroushko to speak at his own fundraiser after he'd suffered a stroke. Not ready for the humor. The honesty. The warmth. The grace. The inspiration.

Seated in a wheelchair, the virtuoso Minneapolis mandolinist/fiddler explained that the stroke had left his left arm useless. "I can't play an instrument," he pointed out. "My voice is compromised from the stroke." Just then church bells rang. "Hello?" Ostroushko responded.

During his 20-minute ad-libbed monologue, the musician, one of Minnesota's finest in any genre, understood his situation, but his mind was as sharp as ever. "I want to dispel a myth," he said. "I got a phone call from someone who left a message on the phone that they wouldn't be making it to my last concert. I'm not playing. This can't possibly be my last concert."

Ostroushko, who worked with everyone from Bob Dylan to the Minnesota Orchestra, died Wednesday afternoon of heart failure. He was 67.

"We have never known a better guy," his daughter, Anna Ostroushko, posted on Facebook. "Please listen to or play some music tonight in his honor."

Whether he played with big names like Willie Nelson or contributed to Ken Burns documentaries, Ostroushko was ultimately a northeast Minneapolis guy.

"Peter Ostroushko was a stone cold, self-taught virtuoso who helped define Minnesota as we know it, the best this state has to offer," said Minneapolis singer-songwriter Paul Metsa. "A triple threat on guitar, violin, and mandolin, he also had a beautiful singing voice. A gentle giant, and when he talked, we listened."

During Ostroushko's speech in July 2018 at the fundraiser, seven months after his stroke, he shared a history of his musical life. He told stories about his days with the Sky Blues Water Boys playing country music in downtown Minneapolis in the 1970s and the group's singer, Becky Reimer Thompson, giving him driving lessons in a borrowed sports car with a stick shift. And about traveling with musician Dáithí Sproule and learning that the Irishman loved Fred Astaire so much he'd do the dapper one's dance steps in their shared motel room. "He doesn't do it in public," Ostroushko joked.

Ostroushko grew up in Northeast Minneapolis, picking up his dad's mandolin at age 3, eventually learning to play everything from Ukrainian folk songs to jazz. At age 21, he was summoned from his sick bed with pneumonia for his first time in a recording studio, for a session with Minnesota's most famous music maker, Dylan, on "Blood on the Tracks" at Sound 80 in south Minneapolis in 1974.

At one point, Dylan took the newcomer's mandolin to play it himself because the notes were too high for Ostroushko to handle. The next morning the still-ill Ostroushko woke up and thought he'd dreamed about recording with Dylan. No, a fellow musician confirmed, it really happened.

A versatile multi-instrumentalist and fast study, Ostroushko was welcomed by Garrison Keillor as a regular band member on radio's "A Prairie Home Companion," where he accompanied countless performers, including Emmylou Harris and John Hartford. He also had a presence on television, appearing on "Austin City Limits," "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" and "Late Night with David Letterman." His music was heard in Burns' documentaries on Mark Twain and Lewis & Clark. He earned a regional Emmy for his soundtrack to the 2005 TPT series "Minnesota: A History of Land."

Not confined to any genre, Ostroushko played Carnegie Hall with the Minnesota Orchestra, and his compositions have been performed by the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and Moscow's Kremlin Chamber Orchestra, among others.

Between 1985 and 2010, Ostroushko released more than 15 albums under his own name, most for St. Paul-based Red House Records, including 2012's career-defining compilation "The Mando Chronicles," spanning genres from bluegrass to classical and ethnic music from Brazil to Italy. He recorded with a cavalcade of Minnesota musicians, from jazz guitarist Dean Magraw to pop pianist Lorie Line. And he performed an annual holiday concert for many years.

The son of Ukrainian immigrants, Ostroushko was proud of his heritage and northeast neighborhood. When he gave up booze in 1982, he went to Nye's Polanaise, the neighborhood landmark, for his last drink, "a zesty Martini," as he once put it.

After his stroke, Ostroushko continued to work with mandolin students and host a podcast, "My Life and Time as a Radio Musician."

He is survived by his wife Marge, daughter Anna, sister Ludmilla, and brothers George and Taras.

Staff writer Chris Riemenschneider contributed to this report.

[billhammond]

[dradtke]

Feb 25, 2021 8:05:47 GMT -5 billhammond said:

At age 21, he was summoned from his sick bed with pneumonia for his first time in a recording studio, for a session with Minnesota's most famous music maker, Dylan, on "Blood on the Tracks" at Sound 80 in south Minneapolis in 1974.

"Summoned from his sick bed with pneumonia" sounds pretty dramatic. As he told it, yes he had pneumonia, but the guys who were calling around trying to find him tracked him down in the 400 Bar.

I think the last time I heard him play was at one of the summer Blood on the Tracks concerts shortly after Lonnie died.

[billhammond]

He played at Lonnie's memorial service.

[Shannon]

I remember hearing him on PHC years ago. What a great musician!

May his family find comfort and may he rest in peace.

[Tamarack]

I feel asleep last night listening to The Mando Chronicles and woke up to this sad news.

My condolences to his family.

Peter Ostroushko's music is timeless, original tunes evocative of places and people (and liner notes similarly evocative of places and people)

[John B]

"At one point, Dylan took the newcomer's mandolin to play it himself because the notes were too high for Ostroushko to handle."

I wonder what the heck that means?

[billhammond]

Feb 25, 2021 9:26:12 GMT -5 John B said:

"At one point, Dylan took the newcomer's mandolin to play it himself because the notes were too high for Ostroushko to handle."

I wonder what the heck that means?

Yeah. that is a head scratcher -- Dylan has skinny fingers that let him get higher on the neck? Makes no sense.


One song/album I wish I could post here is his "Pilgrims on the Heart Road" CD -- can't seem to find it anywhere except to order from Amazon, etc. If anyone here has the skills to post the entire album, that would be great, but especially the track called "My People."

[dradtke]

My people built low to the ground to pick potatoes.

[drlj]

[billhammond]

Thanks so much, LJ! Guitar solo on that track is Dean Magraw, with Rich Dworsky on pianer and Butch Thompson on licorice stick, among other notable musicians on the disc, including Bobby McFerrin, Prudence Johnson, etc.

[billhammond]

Another beauty:

[Marty]

Got to work with Peter several times at Creek House and he would drop by the Podium every now and then. Really nice guy. 

[Russell Letson]

I'd forgotten that I interviewed Peter a couple of times back in '98 for a story on Prairie Home Companion. He'd been with the show, on and off, since close to the beginning and had good stories and sharp observations. I had enough material for a short book, so a lot of interview material didn't make it into the piece. Here are a couple of outtakes from Peter's:

I remember the first time I met Garrison. I was playing in a duo with Dakota Dave Hull. We were playing a gig at the old Café Extemporé coffee house on the West Bank, and after the show this tall, lanky fellow walked up and said something to the effect of "I really like you guys' music and I'd like you to play on this little radio show I have over in St. Paul." I remember looking at Dave and looking back at him and saying, "What does it pay?" I had no idea of who he was or what he did. He said, "You'll be taken care of." That was my first encounter with Garrison. That was pretty much how things happened back then. He went out and if he saw someone he liked, he'd ask them to be on the show.

The Mando Boys were a direct result of the Prairie Home Companion. . . . After working on the show for so long, the first four records I put out were stuff that I had either written for the show or developed to be played on the show. On "Down the Streets of My Old Neighborhood," about two-thirds of the things had been written or learned for the show. "Buddies of Swing" was the same way. The Mando Boys started their career as the Lake Wobegon Municipal Mandolin Orchestra. In 1982 we did a tour on the east coast, the Butch Thompson Trio, Stoney Lonesome, and myself were the traveling musicians. Garrison said it would be nice to pull another act out from this group, so we could say we had four acts. So we developed the Lake Wobegon Municipal Mandolin Orchestra, but people got sick of saying that, so they started calling us the Mando Boys. . . . We weren't a regular thing, we performed from about '82 to '86. We were co-hosts once on a show that Garrison wasn't on, with Emmy Lou Harris. We had persona, and as a Mando Boy I didn't speak English, and one of the other guys was my personal interpreter. I remember doing it, but I don't remember how we pulled it off. We had Emmy Lou wearing a fez at one point.