Relax Your Mind

It's been half a century since Jim Kweskin marshaled a few of his pals from the Cambridge and Berkeley music scenes and founded the Jim Kweskin Jug Band, whose rollicking performances delighted fans and inspired jug bands around the world. Creator of one of the bedrock guitar styles of the folk revival, he continues to explore traditional folk and blues with the sophisticated sensibility of a jazz musician, and jazz with the communal simplicity of a folk artist. A new recording, Jim Kweskin in the 21st Century, is due out later this year.

When Lera Lynn was about six, it suddenly occurred to her how to sing harmony. From then on, singing became a constant pursuit. These days, this Nashville-based, Georgia-bred singer-songwriter is making her mark and amassing a following with her haunting voice and award-winning compositions. American Songwriter magazine wrote that that she can "write a damn good song ... she can also tell a damn good story." The Avenues, her latest recording, was released last month.

Raised on a farm in Stearns County, Minnesota, Joyce Sutphen succeeded Robert Bly as the second (and current) Minnesota Poet Laureate. Her first book of poems, Straight Out of View, won the Barnard Women's Poets Prize; and her 2004 collection, Naming the Stars, received a Minnesota Book Award. Her most recent, After Words, was published last year by Red Dragonfly Press. Joyce Sutphen teaches literature and creative writing at Gustavus Adolphus College.

Garrison Keillor was born in 1942 in Anoka, Minnesota. He went to work for Minnesota Public Radio in 1969, and on July 6, 1974, he hosted the first broadcast of A Prairie Home Companion in St. Paul. He is the host of The Writer's Almanac and the editor of the Good Poems series of anthologies from Viking.

Richard Dworsky Keyboardist, composer, and arranger Richard Dworsky is music director for A Prairie Home Companion, where he is often called upon to improvise on the spot - in styles ranging from classical to bluegrass and everything in between. He has accompanied Garrison Keillor on U.S. and European concert tours and has collaborated with numerous other performers, including Al Jarreau and Kristin Chenoweth. Chris Brown Originally from Albuquerque, drummer Chris Brown has been one of the most sought-after drummers in the South, since he arrived in Nashville - via New York - more than a decade ago. He has recorded and played with numerous musicians, including jazz pianist Beegie Adair and mandolin ace Sam Bush. Jeff Carney Bassist Jeff Carney is always in demand - in Broadway orchestras, on jingles and film soundtracks, and as accompanist for jazz giants and popular music stars. A professor of bass and at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, he is principal bassist with the New York Pops Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. Richard Kriehn When Richard Kriehn turned 10, his mom bought him a mandolin; at 19, he'd won the Buck White International Mandolin Contest. He went on to play with the Nashville Mandolin Ensemble and bluegrass group 1946. On the classical side, he has performed with numerous orchestras and was principal second violin for the Washington/Idaho Symphony. Chris Siebold From bluegrass to big band jazz, Chris Siebold knows his way around a guitar - or bass or banjo or mandolin or a bunch of other instruments, for that matter. Based in Chicago, he draws from a deep well of influences and styles, and has put his talents to work in ensembles such as Howard Levy's Acoustic Express and Kick the Cat. In 2010, he formed the band Psycles, a large and extremely versatile group whose album Live at Martyrs' was released the following year.

One minute he's mild-mannered Tim Russell; the next he's George Bush or Julia Child or Barack Obama. We've yet to stump this man of many voices. Says fellow APHC actor Sue Scott, "He does a better Ira Glass than Ira Glass." A well-known Twin Cities radio personality and voice actor, Tim appeared in the Robert Altman film A Prairie Home Companion and the Coen brothers' A Serious Man. Tim has also been reviewing films professionally for over 10 years.

On APHC, Sue Scott plays everything from ditzy teenagers to Guy Noir stunners to leathery crones who've smoked one pack of Camel straights too many. The Tucson, Arizona, native is well known for her extensive commercial and voice-over work on radio and television, as well as stage and movie roles, including the part of "Donna" in Robert Altman's A Prairie Home Companion.

Sound effects man Fred Newman is an actor, writer, musician, and sound designer for film and TV. Turns out, no one is more surprised than Fred that he's made a career out of doing what he used to do behind the teacher's back -crossing his eyes, making sounds, and doing voices. He readily admits that, growing up, he was unceremoniously removed from several classrooms, "once by my bottom lip."