A Prairie Home Companion original passes on

Posted at 5:50 PM on May 25, 2010 by Marianne Combs
Filed under: People

Folk musician Bill Hinkley, of the duo "Bill Hinkley and Judy Larson," died yesterday at the VA hospital in Minneapolis. He was 67.

Hinkley and Larson were on the first PHC broadcast back in 1974 - the "Original Powdermilk Muffins" as Garrison Keillor calls them.

Hinkley, a long-time West Bank native, taught classes at the West Bank School of Music, and was a pro at the mandolin, the fiddle and the banjo, among other instruments. In 1999, he was inducted into the Minnesota Music Hall of Fame, and in 2000 he and Larson received a lifetime achievement award from the Minnesota Bluegrass and Old-Time Music Association.

Currently on the PHC website you can listen to its reunion show from 2008, featuring Hinkley and Larson, along with Butch Thompson and Pop Wagner.

Hinkley is reported to have died due to a blood disorder.

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