A Prairie Home Companion: January 10, 2004

Special Guests
Saturday, January 10, 2004

Born and raised in San Francisco, musical humorist Kacey Jones has worked as a singer, songwriter, musician, recording artist, producer, and publisher. The former founder and leader of cult comedy group Ethel and the Shameless Hussies, Jones won award nominations and a contract with MCA records. She had produced tracks for Delbert McClinton, Tom Waits, Dwight Yoakam, Lyle Lovett, and Willie Nelson. Affiliated with the society of Sweet Potato Queens, she holds the official title of "Royal Minstrel to the Sweet Potato Queens' Court" and her current release is called The Sweet Potato Queens' Big-Ass Box of Music.

Stanislav (Stas) Venglevski hails from the Republic of Moldova, formerly a part of the Soviet Union. He is a virtuoso of the bayan, a five-octave concert accordion that is one of the most beloved folk instruments in Russia. Venglevski won two first prizes at Bayan competitions in The Republic of Moldova and received his Masters Degree in Music at the Russian Academy of Music in Moscow before immigrating to the United States in 1992. He was recently elected the 25th President of the Accordionists and Teachers Guild, International (ATG). He has performed frequently with conductor Doc Severinsen, symphony orchestras, and as a member of the "Sta Sera" duo with accordionist John Simkus. Their most recent CD is entitled Seasonings.

Singer-songwriter-guitarist Catfish Stephenson is a Madison institution. Recognizable to locals as one of the city's first street musicians, Stephenson has performed throughout Wisconsin, as well as in Chicago, Santa Fe, Austin, and Germany. His band was named Madison's favorite blues band for 2000-2001, and he won first prize in the roots/bluegrass category of the Madison Songwriting Group's national songwriting contest in 2002. His most recent release, recorded with his band the One Eyed Jacks, is called The Way You Move.

Cindy Cashdollar grew up in Woodstock, NY and was captivated by Delta blues music at a young age; she began playing guitar when she was eleven. She now plays steel guitar and dobro and has won five Grammy Awards in the course of recording with leading country, roots, jazz, and folk artists. She spent eight years touring, playing, and recording with the Western swing band Asleep at the Wheel, and her talents can he heard on Bob Dylan's Grammy-winning Album of the Year Time Out of Mind, as well as on recordings by Manhattan Transfer, The Dixie Chicks, Reba McEntire, and Willie Nelson. Cashdollar has also made three instructional videos for steel guitar and dobro and conducts workshops across the nation. Her first solo CD, Slideshow, was released in 2003.