Knocking on the Golden Door

The SongBirds — an apt name for this Los Angeles-based trio whose roots trace to Texas, Guatemala, and Australia. Singer-songwriters Erica Canales, Gaby Moreno, and Dannielle DeAndrea formed the group in 2009, taking their cue from the vocal trios of the 1920s, '30s, and '40s. Two years later, they debuted their EP (The SongBirds), a five-song recording that shows off their incomparable blend and diverse musicality.

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.

"There are only three white blues singers," Richard Thompson once said, "and Geoff Muldaur is at least two of them." Once you hear Muldaur's otherworldly voice, you know what he meant. He was a founding member of the Jim Kweskin Jug Band and Paul Butterfield's Better Days group, and he has collaborated with Bonnie Raitt, Maria Muldaur, Jerry Garcia and many other notables. An Emmy-winning composer of scores for television and film, Muldaur's solo recordings include Beautiful Isle of Somewhere (HighTone Records).

Singer-songwriter and fiddle player Sara Watkins - along with her brother Sean and mandolinist Chris Thile - was a founding member of the Grammy-winning progressive bluegrass group Nickel Creek. In 2015, Sara and Sean released their "family-band-of-sorts project," Watkins Family Hour, and then embarked on a tour that included stops at Conan, NPR's Tiny Desk Concert, and the Newport Folk Festival. Sara's latest recording: Young in All the Wrong Ways (New West Records).

Keyboardist, composer, and arranger Richard Dworsky is music director for A Prairie Home Companion. He has also accompanied Garrison Keillor on U.S. and European concert tours and has collaborated with numerous other performers, including Al Jarreau and singer/actress Kristin Chenoweth. Among his many CDs is So Near and Dear to Me (Prairie Home Productions). Chet Atkins called Pat Donohue (guitar) one of the greatest fingerpickers in the world today. And he writes songs too - recorded by Suzy Bogguss, Kenny Rogers, and others. Nobody's Fault and Vicksburg Blues (a collaboration with Butch Thompson) are the most recent of Pat's albums. Gary Raynor (bass) has performed with the Count Basie band and Sammy Davis Jr., with whom he toured for several years. He was first call for dozens of touring Broadway shows, including the first presentation of The Lion King. Gary teaches at the McNally Smith College of Music in St. Paul. 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. 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.