Prudence Johnson’s long and happy career as a singer, writer, and teacher has landed her on the musical theatre stage, in two feature films, (A River Runs Through It, A Prairie Home Companion) on national radio, (several long stints on A Prairie Home Companion) and on concert stages across North America and occasionally Europe (Carnegie Hall, the Hollywood Bowl, Gorky Park and an old mosque in Israel being the most memorable.) She has released more than a dozen recordings, including albums dedicated to the music of the Gershwins, Hoagy Carmichael, Greg Brown, and a collection of international lullabies. Prudence finds pleasure in working with young people, serving as a music director at SteppingStone Theatre for Youth Development since ’96 and teaching private lessons. Since taking up the tenor ukulele, she has found great riches in the folk music of her roots, and in the work of some of the more profound songwriters of her generation. One such project, in collaboration with the New Standards, is devoted to the music of Joni Mitchell, Tom Waits & Leonard Cohen.

In recent years, her greatest focus has been on creating multi-media works for concert and theater stages that blend performance with her interests in history and literature. A play about a little-known collaborator of Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht in Berlin between the wars, first produced in 2003, is being rewritten under a new title, and she and pianist Dan Chouinard have just completed a state-wide tour of their new music/history show Millers, Miners & Moonshiners: Minnesota in the 1920s. Their previous collaborations include The Golden Age of Radio, Tiptoe Through the 60s: Songs and Stories from a Revolutionary Decade, and Another Song About Paris. In 2011, she created and produced the touring show and CD A Girl Named Vincent, featuring the poetry of Edna St Vincent Millay set to music by four MN composers.

Yazmin is an accomplished pianist, vocalist, dancer, teacher, and award-winning singer-songwriter and painter. She has performed both as a solo artist and with a diverse range of bands, theaters, and shows since the age of 8. Weaving between modalities in whatever way serves her radically authentic voice, Yazmin creates to inspire, open, connect, and embrace joy.

In her teens, Yazmin discovered a passion for Cuban music and dance, performing in and leading several bands from 2006 onward, including her current group, the bilingual folk/rock Latin-fusion Beat Zero. She began studying with master Latin music educator Rebeca Mauleón-Santana in 2006. She went on to study piano, composition and voice under a full scholarship at McNally Smith College of Music. In 2016 she lived in Cuba and continued her music studies with Alexis Bosch as well as afro-Cuban dance at the highly esteemed Instituto Superior de Arte. Yazmin has toured nationally, recorded three albums and appeared on countless other recordings as a pianist, vocalist, or accordionist. Since she was 5 years old she’s been a regular performer in concerts and theatrical productions at the Lake Superior Big Top Chautauqua. She has opened for artists such as Nanci Griffith and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and been a guest on Michael Feldman’s Whad’Ya Know? radio program. The raw emotion of her songs is transmitted through her powerful stage presence, evocative lyrics, and full-hearted storytelling.

Yazmin teaches piano, composition, voice, and popular Latin dances. She composes music for television, film, and commercials, and owns and operates her personal music label and publishing company. In 2019, she founded Nautilus Exchange to lead dance-, art-, and music-focused tours of Cuba. In her art, Yazmin works primarily in acrylics, pastels, and charcoal.

Jane Aleckson currently is the bassist/vocalist/leader of The Jane Gang quartet which is a variety band in the Twin Ports area consisting of Tom O’Hara, Todd James Larson, and Tom Cawcutt.

While in the the Twin Cities area, the Jane Gang was a 10-piece horn band for 10 years.  In the recent past, Jane was the bassist for the Big Top Chatauqua house band "Blue Canvas Orchestra" performing regularly at the big tent in Bayfield and on the road with "Tent Show Radio" hosted my Michael Perry.  Jane also played with the prestigious Women Who Cook!. WWC! performed in the Soviet Union in 1988 as part of a peace tour and documentary which aired on Public Television. WWC! concert venues included O’Shaunessy Auditorium, the Guthrie, the State Theatre, the Orpheum, Northrup, Ordway, and opening for the Target Center.  Jane still plays with Prudence Johnson on occasion and has a duo with her daughter Inga Weis called “Lioness.” She also plays with Donny Buck Rockabilly Revue, and the Tom Cawcutt Trio. In the past she played with legendary performers Gene Pitney, Tony Sandler and many others, Jane can be heard on commercial ads as singer/bassist and many original artists' CDs. In 2004/2006 Jane recorded and performed original tunes with with Jim Ouska who recently passed.  Their music can be found on itunes: “Jim & Jane” and “A Pocket Full of Tunes.”