Peter Ostroushko

Peter Ostroushko merges Ukraine’s musical heritage with sonic echoes of the American Midwest on mandolin and fiddle. He rose to prominence through recurring appearances on National Public Radio’s A Prairie Home Companion. Pronounced Oh-STREW-shko, the musician has upheld exacting standards across his solo discs and his paired recordings with Minnesota acoustic guitarist Dean Magraw. Flatpicking virtuoso Norman Blake has characterized Ostroushko’s dual-instrument mastery as “the next Jethro Burns and Johnny Gimble rolled into one.”

Born to Ukrainian immigrants Wasyl and Katerina Ostroushko, he absorbed homeland melodies from his shoemaker father’s guitar and mandolin playing. Although he performed on A Prairie Home Companion in 1974—the year Minnesota Public Radio first aired the program—he did not become a permanent cast member until the show achieved national distribution in 1980. During the intervening six years he worked as a Nashville session musician, contributing, uncredited, mandolin to Bob Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks track “If You See Her, Say Hello” and appearing on albums by Jethro Burns, Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, Chet Atkins, and Johnny Gimble. He also toured with Robin & Linda Williams and Norman & Nancy Blake.

Ostroushko’s first solo album, Sluz Duz Music, appeared in 1982; its title derives from Ukrainian phrases denoting “over the edge” or “off his rocker.” The 1986 follow-up, Down the Streets of My Neighborhood, featured a medley of Ukrainian songs and an Ukrainian-language interpretation of Hank Williams’ “Hey, Good Lookin’.” His recordings have regularly enlisted distinguished accompanists. The Mando Boys, released late in 1986, spotlighted a fez-clad ensemble that grew out of the Lake Woebegone Municipal Mandolin Orchestra formed for a tour with Garrison Keillor and the A Prairie Home Companion cast. That same year he recorded First Generation with concertina player Bertram Levy.

Buddies of Swing, issued in 1987, presented a jazz-inflected collaboration with Jethro Burns on mandolin, Johnny Gimble on fiddle, Butch Thompson on piano, Dean Magraw on guitar, and Prudence Johnson on vocals. After the 1989 solo outing Blue Mesa, which included guest appearances by Norman & Nancy Blake, Daithi Sproule, and Magraw, Ostroushko and Magraw released the 1991 duo album Duo. His most widely recognized recording, the all-instrumental 1995 exploration Heart of the Heartland, earned a NAIRD award as best independently released folk instrumental album and was featured in Ken Burns’ PBS documentary Lewis and Clark. The following year he issued Pilgrims on the Heart Road, described in the liner notes as “a collection of songs that are a companion piece to Heart of the Heartland.” Sacred Heart followed in 2000.

After the millennium Ostroushko maintained a steady flow of Red House releases, among them the 2002 Norman Blake duet album Meeting on Southern Soil, Coming Down from Red Lodge (2003), the public-television score Minnesota: A History of the Land and The Heartland Holiday Concert (both 2005), Postcards (2006), and When the Last Morning Glory Blooms (2010). He has also collaborated extensively with the Children’s Theater Company and ACT Theater in Minnesota; one of his largest-scale projects placed him as lead ukulele player with the Minnesota Symphony Orchestra.