Garrison Keillor’s publicity crew at the A Prairie Home Companion radio show perhaps said it best when they described The Radio Stars' performance at the Bismarck Halloween 2009 broadcast of the show: "Combine a whole lot of energy with a distinctive take on modern and traditional Western-style tunes, and you’ve got The Radio Stars."

The Stars are shining bright after a busy 2009 that saw the band release their first CD, Headin’ West, perform for millions of people on a nationally broadcast radio show, tour western North Dakota, and appear at the Norsk Høstfest in Minot. They’ve been invited back to Høstfest for 2010.

The Radio Stars are:

• 'Magic' Merrill Piepkorn—harmonica, guitars
• Loy Larson—champion fiddler and mandolin
• R.P. Sell—bass guitar
• Gregg 'Smokey' Temple—electric, acoustic and pedal steel guitars

All of the band members sing. In addition to the Western and cowboy music, The Radio Stars can keep a dance floor packed with a variety of two-steps, waltzes, a polka or two (in the form of a jumpin’ fiddle tune), along with an occasional truck drivin’ song.

The band's roots reach back to 1972 when Smokey and Magic began playing coffee houses and local bars while attending Concordia College in Moorhead. Following graduation in 1974 they formed the regionally popular band Skunk Hollow, that a few folks around here still remember! When Merrill quit the band to move back to Fargo, he began playing with R.P. and, eventually, Loy. The fellas reunited in 2005, focusing on Western music and touring . . . mostly in the West of course.