Peter Ostroushko

The musical traditions of the Ukraine are fused with an aural reflection of America's Midwest by mandolin and fiddle player Peter Ostroushko. Best known for his regular appearances on National Public Radio show, A Prairie Home Companion, Ostroushko (pronounced: Oh-STREW-shko) has consistently achieved high standards with his solo recordings and duo albums with Minnesota-based acoustic guitarist Dean Magraw. Equally skillful on fiddle and mandolin, Ostroushko is, according to flatpicking guitar wiz Norman Blake, "the next Jethro Burns and Johnny Gimble rolled into one." Ostroushko has been playing music most of his life. As the son of Ukrainian immigrants, Wasyl and Katerina Ostroushko, Ostroushko grew up listening to his father, a shoemaker, playing traditional songs of his homeland on guitar and mandolin. Although he appeared on A Prairie Home Companion, in 1974, the first year that the show was broadcast on Minnesota Public Radio, Ostroushko didn't become a full-time cast member until the show went national in 1980. During the six years in between, Ostroushko worked as a session musician in Nashville. In addition to working on albums by Jethro Burns, Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, Chet Atkins and Johnny Gimble, Ostroushko played mandolin, though uncredited, on the tune, "If You See Her, Say Hello," from Bob Dylan's album, Blood On The Tracks. Ostroushko also toured with Robin & Linda Williams and Norman & Nancy Blake. Sluz Duz Music, Ostroushko's debut solo album, was released in 1982. The title referred to Ostroushko's description of his music, based on the Ukrainian words meaning, "over the edge" or "off his rocker". Ostroushko's second effort, Down The Streets Of My Neighborhood, released in 1986, included a medley of Ukrainian songs and an interpretation of...