Marcia Ball Band

Born in the southeast Texas town of Orange, singer/pianist Marcia Ball grew up in Vinton, just across the Louisiana line. At five, she began taking piano lessons, playing old Tin Pan Alley tunes from her grandmother's collection. But as a teen, her attention turned to the blues when she heard R&B great Irma Thomas. After college, she moved to Austin - her car had broken down, and while waiting for repairs, she fell in love with the city and decided to stay. These days, as the Minneapolis Star Tribune wrote, "Ball is the bayou queen of the piano, steeped in blues and honky-tonk." Her latest CD is Live! Down the Road (Alligator). A new album, Peace, Love and BBQ, comes out in April. The band: Don Bennett (bass), Corey Keller (drums), Andrew Nafziger (guitar) and Thad Scott (sax).

BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet

In the 30-plus years since Michael Doucet changed his mind about graduate school and went into Cajun music instead, BeauSoleil — with Michael Doucet, David Doucet, Billy Ware, Tommy Alesi, Jimmy Breaux and Mitch Reed — has recorded more than 20 albums. They released their first, The Spirit of Cajun Music, in the late '70s, and in 1998 won a Grammy for L'Amour ou la Folie. Their latest recording is Live in Louisiana (Way Down Louisiana). BeauSoleil has spent decades preserving Cajun music, and blending elements of zydeco, New Orleans jazz, Tex-Mex and more into a tasty musical mix. In 2005, the National Endowment for the Arts honored Michael Doucet with a National Heritage Fellowship.

Peter Johnson

Peter Johnson (percussion) has played klezmer music with Doc Severinsen and jazz with Dave Brubeck. He was a drummer for The Manhattan Transfer and for Gene Pitney. He has toured the world, but he always comes back to home base: Saint Paul.

Simone Perrin

Actor/singer/accordionist Simone Perrin was born in Wisconsin, but by the time she was six, the family had moved to Winona, Minnesota, where Simone grew up. After high school, she attended Oberlin College and Conservatory, then spent five years in New York doing sketch comedy. Now based in the Twin Cities, she has appeared in theater productions from the Ordway to Mixed Blood to Theatre de la Jeune Lune. In 2006, she premiered two shows at the Minnesota Fringe Festival: her one-woman show, Tall Tale of a Broke Heart, and In Hopes of Claudia with Kevin Kling. She has performed extensively with The Bad Astronauts, her New York-based sketch comedy group, and next month she heads to Seattle to appear in Kevin Kling's new play, How? How? Why? Why? Why?

Andy Stein

Andy Stein (violin, saxophone) definitely has far-flung musical leanings. He collaborated with Garrison Keillor to create the opera Mr. and Mrs. Olson, and he has performed with artists such as Itzhak Perlman, Eric Clapton, Smashing Pumpkins, Billy Joel, Tony Bennett, Ray Charles and Bob Dylan