Like There's No Tomorrow

Over a three-decade career, Texas-born, Louisiana-raised Marcia Ball has amassed a huge following with her infectious, intelligent, emotional brand of Southern boogie, rollicking roadhouse blues, and heartfelt ballads. In 2010, she was inducted into the Gulf Coast Music Hall of Fame; in 2012, into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame. Her latest recording, The Tattooed Lady & The Alligator Man, was released this fall on Alligator Records. The band: Don Bennett (bass), Damien Llanes (drums), Mike Schermer (guitar), Eric Bernhardt (sax).

Mezzo-soprano Janis Hardy has performed major roles at leading opera houses around the country, including the Houston Grand Opera, San Francisco Opera, and Minnesota Opera, where she created roles in more than 20 world premieres. She has been a soloist with the Minnesota Orchestra, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and VocalEssence with Philip Brunelle. And she has mentored numerous students as Associate Professor of Music at St. Olaf College.

Garrison Keillor was born in 1942 in Anoka, Minnesota. He went to work for Minnesota Public Radio in 1969, and on July 6, 1974, he hosted the first broadcast of A Prairie Home Companion in St. Paul. He is the host of The Writer's Almanac and the editor of the Good Poems series of anthologies from Viking.

Richard Dworsky Keyboardist, composer, and arranger Richard Dworsky is APHC's music director. He leads the band, composes themes, improvises script underscores, and collaborates with such diverse guests as Yo-Yo Ma, James Taylor, Brad Paisley, Kristin Chenoweth, and Sheryl Crow. He has released many recordings of original material and has provided music for documentaries on HBO and PBS. Sally Dorer Cellist Sally Dorer has performed throughout the United States as an orchestral and chamber musician. A member of the Minnesota Opera Orchestra, she has also performed with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and frequently can be heard with the Minnesota Orchestra and VocalEssence. Previously, she was a member of the New Mexico Symphony and the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra. She has served on the faculty of both Carleton College and Augsburg College. Richard Kriehn 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. Dean Magraw Guitarist Dean Magraw studied at the University of Minnesota and the Berklee School of Music in Boston. His first recording, 1994's Broken Silence, won the NAIRD award for Best Acoustic Instrumental Album of the Year. Dean has since turned out an array of dazzling albums. For his latest, he joined forces with drummer Erik Kamau Gravatt to produce Fire on the Nile (Red House Records).

One minute he's mild-mannered Tim Russell; the next he's George Bush or Julia Child or Barack Obama. We've yet to stump this man of many voices. Says fellow APHC actor Sue Scott, "He does a better Ira Glass than Ira Glass." A well-known Twin Cities radio personality and voice actor, Tim appeared in the Robert Altman film A Prairie Home Companion and the Coen brothers' A Serious Man. Tim has also been reviewing films professionally for over 10 years.

On APHC, Sue Scott plays everything from ditzy teenagers to Guy Noir stunners to leathery crones who've smoked one pack of Camel straights too many. The Tucson, Arizona, native is well known for her extensive commercial and voice-over work on radio and television, as well as stage and movie roles, including the part of "Donna" in Robert Altman's A Prairie Home Companion.

Sound effects man Fred Newman is an actor, writer, musician, and sound designer for film and TV. Turns out, no one is more surprised than Fred that he's made a career out of doing what he used to do behind the teacher's back -crossing his eyes, making sounds, and doing voices. He readily admits that, growing up, he was unceremoniously removed from several classrooms, "once by my bottom lip."