Biography

Peter Ostroushko is regarded as one of the finest mandolin and fiddle players in acoustic music. As one critic said: “Peter Ostroushko can play anything! And usually does.” His tours have taken him across North America and Europe; he has played on over a thousand albums and earned an international reputation as a versatile and dazzling master of instrumentation and composition.

His resumé and recording contributions are dizzying in their size and scope. He’s recorded with everyone from Emmylou Harris to Taj Majal as well as his first recording session as an uncredited mandolin performance on Bob Dylan’sBlood on the Tracks. He has played with the Minnesota Symphony Orchestra, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, as well as the Mahler symphony at Carnegie Hall. He’s barked like a dog on Late Night with David Letterman and appeared on Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood (whose other rare musical guests have included Wynton Marsalis and Yo-Yo Ma). Peter has also appeared on radio and television shows including Mountain Stage, Good Evening, TNN, Lonesome Pine, Austin City Limits, and A Prairie Home Companion, where he was a regular performer and one of the show’s music directors.

When the Last Morning Glory Blooms is Peter’s 12th album on Red House Records, though he has appeared on many more. Mando Boys, Buddies of Swing, Blue Mesa, and Duo were some of Peter’s earlier works and showcased his blossoming musical virtuosity. In 1994 Peter released Heart of the Heartland, the first of the “Heartland Trilogy” that included Pilgrims on the Heart Road (earning a place on Pulse! Magazine’s Top Ten List for 1997) and Sacred Heart. Cinematic in nature, Heart of the Heartland caught the ear of filmmaker Ken Burns and was used in his 1997 PBS documentary Lewis and Clark.

Consistently lush with spiritual instrumentation, Peter’s albums are a testament to his genius. Fantastic records like Meeting on Southern Soil (2002) with flat-picking legend Norman Blake followed by Coming Down from Red Lodge in 2003 garnered critical praise, while in 2005 Peter received an EMMY Award for his original score for the PBS series Minnesota: A History of the Land.

In 2006, Peter released Postcards: Travels with a Great American Radio Show which was written while on the road with A Prairie Home Companion. Musically capturing the cities and small towns they drove through, it’s an epic travelogue of America’s backbone.

Peter continues to contribute to the screen with work prominently featured on Ken Burns’ PBS documentary series The National Parks-America’s Best Idea as well as Sean Penn’s feature film Into the Wild.

When the Last Morning Glory Blooms, Peter offers up a dazzling collection of contemporary and traditional sounds spanning the prairies of America’s heartland to the narrow streets of Europe. With When the Last Morning Glory Blooms, Peter Ostroushko solidifies himself as one of the foremost composers in music today.