Joan Griffith never met a string instrument she didn’t like. Growing up in Bellevue, Nebraska, she fell in love with the guitar while listening to Stan Getz and João Gilberto on their breakout Brazilian album. She immediately got her mother to purchase the record and, at age 14, proceeded to figure out how to play all the songs! Joan has taught at the University of St. Thomas and St. Catherine’s University among other schools. She is currently ensconced at Macalester College. She is a roster artist with COMPAS and the Minnesota State Arts Board.

Minnesota-based singer-songwriter and 7-string guitarist Skarlett Woods can only be placed in one musical category: powerful. She weaves together the rich tapestry of Americana sounds — Folk, Roots, Rock ’n Roll and Alt-Country — making each song seemingly simple yet deeply engaging. Her original work can be daring and Jazzy like early 1970s Joni Mitchell, poetic like Bob Dylan, sweet and sexy like Norah Jones or laced with Americana like Brandi Carlile.

Gabriela Sweet collaborates with her resophonic Dobro and National guitars to open sound doors. She plays bottleneck slide in open tunings, featuring son montuno, blues, festejo, zydeco, jazz standards and boleros… and whatever the guitars want to play next. Sweet can sing in Spanish, English, French, Gaelic, German, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Tagalog, and Ukrainian!