Born and raised in the Boston area, Gerald began his musical life at the age of 10.  Playing drums throughout high school in rock bands, orchestras and with theater companies, he attended the famed Tanglewood Institute in the summers of 1985 and 1986.  In 1986, he was accepted into both the Manhattan School of Music and the New England Conservatory of Music as a classical percussionist.  He chose NEC, studying jazz and classical percussion with Bob Moses, Fred Buda, Vic Firth and Arthur Press, while also playing in combos led by Moses, Dave Holland, George Garzone and Hankus Netsky.  Gerald continued to play in local rock bands, jazz combos, orchestras and musical theaters until 1991, when he moved to Chicago to attend DePaul University, securing the drum chair in the top big band upon his arrival.  Since then, he has gone on to play with some of the top rock, jazz and country musicians in the Chicago area and nationwide, and has extensive studio credits to his name.  He’s been living and working in Chicago for the past 20+ years.His longest post has been with alt-country godfather Robbie Fulks, with whom he has recorded and played nationally and overseas since 2000.  And since 2006, Gerald has been playing with one of the creators of 'kindie rock':  Justin Roberts and his band, the Not-Ready-For-Naptime Players.  They play more than 100 shows a year around North America, and the band's last two albums -- Recess (2013) and Jungle Gym (2010) -- were each nominated for a Grammy Award.​In addition to hundreds of rock clubs in the United States and abroad, Mr. Dowd has played some of the most prestigious music venues in the world, including multiple appearances at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, The Borderline in London, the Rose Bowl and the Getty Center in Los Angeles, The Paradiso in Amsterdam, The Bottom Line, the Fillmore East, CBGB's and Symphony Space in New York City, the Kennedy Center in D.C., Symphony Hall and The Rathskellar in Boston, and Ravinia, Lollapalooza, Millennium Park, Steppenwolf Theater and Second City in Chicago.  TV appearances include the Today Show, The Jenny Jones Show, Sound Opinions, and numerous appearances on local Chicago television. Gerald has also performed and/or recorded with:  Chris Mills, Frisbie, Nora O’Connor, Kelly Hogan, Edith Frost, Lush Budgett, Dave Ramont, Dick Smith, Lloyd Green, Dennis Crouch, Peter Himmelman, Swing Gitan, 500Clown Theater Company, Neko Case, Andrew Bird, EXO, Steve Albini,  Mavis Staples, George Jones, Buck Owens, Tina Fey, Marshall Crenshaw, Rhymefest, Rich Little, Otis Clay, Catie Curtis, Pinetop Seven, Richie Cole, and Arturo Sandoval, among many others.   ​Gerald has been described as “the hardest working drummer in Chicago” (Richard Milne, WXRT), and is one of the city’s most in-demand drummers, having played on over 60 albums, and averaging 200 live dates a year. In 2014, he was the recipient of an IAP arts grant from Chicago's Dept. Of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE), which led to his first full length solo album, Home Now, in 2014. His first release, Kingsize EP, was released in 2012.

 As a singer, actress, writer, and musician Anne Hills has continuously built a reputation of merit. During her career, she has received numerous honors including, most recently, the 2006 Pennsylvania Partner’s in the Arts Project Stream grant award (for the 2007 premiere of An Evening of James Whitcomb Riley). In 2005 she received the same grant for her premiere of The Heartsongs of Opal Whiteley. She was also the recipient of the WFMA 2002 Kate Wolf Memorial Award, and The Kerrville Music Foundation’s Outstanding Female Vocalist of the Year Award (1997). Her duet children’s recording, Never Grow Up, released in 1998 with Cindy Mangsen on Flying Fish Records, was chosen for the coveted Parents’ Choice Award. Her poetic work won her Second Place in theAtlanta Review’s 1999 International Poetry Contest and her work as lyricist with jazz-artist Peter Erskine was featured in a performance by choirs from around the world at a Hilliard Ensemble workshop in Germany. In 2001 she reunited with long-time friend Tom Paxton to release a long-awaited duet recording Under American Skies for Appleseed Recordings, which won a WAMMIE (Washington Area Music Award) for “best traditional folk recording” that year. This was soon followed by another collaborative debut, Fourtold (with Michael Smith, Steve Gilletteand Cindy Mangsen) in the spring of 2003. That same summer she participated in the final Pete Seeger compilation Seeds, and her lyrical work expanded into the UK folk scene, co-writing two tunes (including the title cut) with Bill Jones for her Two Year Winter (on Compass Records). Then, in January of 2004 Appleseed Recordings delighted fans with the release of an historic Chicago concert recording (engineered in 1985 by WFMT’s Rich Warren) of the group Best of Friends(Paxton, Gibson & Hills). Her 2006 recording, Beauty Attends: The Heartsongs of Opal Whiteley, was released by Collective Works, followed in summer of 2007 by Ef You Don’t Watch Out!: Anne Hills Sings the Poems of James Whitcomb Riley. Though collaborative work is the keystone in Anne’s career, it is her singing and interpretive gifts that have received the most attention. 1998 saw the release of Anne’s performances on two of the most talked about compilations of the year, placing her voice along side Bruce Springsteen, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, The Roches, Ani DiFranco and The Indigo Girls on Where Have All the Flowers Gone? (The Songs of Pete Seeger) and What’s That I Hear? (The Songs of Phil Ochs). Other projects include the occasional tour withPriscilla Herdman and Cindy Mangsen (Voices of Winterin 1998, and At the Turning of the Year in 2000), which was featured in the arts section of the January 1998Sunday New York Times, and her performances with the legendary songwriter Michael Smith. Anne and Michael’s duet recording Paradise Lost and Found was released in the fall of 1999 on Redwing Music label. A year earlier, in the fall of 1998, Anne released Bittersweet Street also on Redwing Music. It was her ninth release, and the second album to highlight her own compositions. Covering such diverse subjects as the Civil War, alcoholism, a yard’s winter dreams, and exiled refugees, Anne continues to touch the heart with a poet’s evocative palette and a singer’s love of melody. Anne’s songwriting and the albums featuring her writing (Bittersweet Street and 1995’s Angle of the Light), have continued to win her new and ardent fans. In 1994, her song “Follow That Road” was chosen as the title cut for the 2nd Annual Martha’s Vineyard Songwriter’s Gathering recording on Rounder Records (produced by Christine Lavin). Anne was born in Moradabad, India, the third daughter of educational missionaries. Raised in Michigan, she attendedInterlochen Arts Academy where she formed her first folk trio. She was also the female vocalist with the Big Band that turned out future jazz greats Peter Erskine, Bob Mintzer and Chris Brubeck. She moved to Chicago’s fertile folk scene in 1976 and co-founded the folklore center Hogeye Music, still a force in the Chicago music scene. Her first three recordings, 1982’s The Panic is On (with Jan Burda, produced by Bob Gibson), 1984′s , Don’t Explain, and the “Chicago Folk” Christmas album, On This Day Earth Shall Ring, were released on her own Hogeye Records label. By 1983, she had joined forces with folk luminaries Tom Paxton and Bob Gibson to tour as a trio, while developing her own style of songwriting and performing. As Anne’s touring schedule and prominence grew, Flying Fish Records added Hogeye Records to their growing catalog. Shortly after the release of her second solo recording Woman of a Calm Heart (produced in Woodstock by Artie Traum and Scott Petito, featuring a duet with Livingston Taylor), Anne began her occasional but very fruitful musical partnership with Cindy Mangsen and Priscilla Herdman. This culminated in the first trio recording Voices (1990, Flying Fish). Anne followed the trio recording with October Child (1993), produced by jazz drummer and former classmate Peter Erskine (Weather Report, Yellowjackets). It features the songs of Michael Smith, arranged by Vince Mendoza and played by session masters Bob Mann, Jimmy Johnson, the late Carlos Vega, Jim Cox and soloist Paul McCandless. Cindy Mangsen and Anne collaborated on Never Grow Old(1994), a traditional music project that received an Honorable Mention in the Folk category of the Indie Awards (NAIRD, now AFIM). It garnered praise from the radio community, which was thrilled to have the collection of trios and quartets that included a star studded list of guests such as John Hartford, Tom Paxton, Laurie Lewis, and John Roberts and Tony Barrand doing turn-of-the-century folksongs. It caught the attention of All Things Considered host Noah Adams, who invited Anne, Cindy and Steve Gillette to share songs from the project for a special Thanksgiving segment on the syndicated NPR news program. On the heels of that recording, Anne released Angle of the Light (1995) on Flying Fish/Rounder. This was followed in 1997 by the trio recording Voices of Winter on Gadfly Records, (the title cut written by Anne) which appeared on many “best of the season lists” and played extensively on radio nation wide. Also that year, Anne came out with her first children’s book (illustrated by Michigan artist Liz Paxson) based on her song “Dreamcatcher.” Anne’s commitment to social justice (receiving a Masters Degree in Social Work with honors on Mother’s Day and recipient of the 2005 Polizzi Award for Dedication and Service in the Field of Social Work) and to children keeps her busy with benefit concerts and community service projects. In September of 1997, The Carole Robertson Center for Learning gave her its Award for Outstanding Service and Loyalty. Located in Chicago, the Center aids families and children in need and is named for the four girls killed in the 1963 Birmingham, Alabama Baptist church bombing. Earlier that year Anne had produced Part of the Village, the second in a series of benefit recordings (That Kind of Grace, released in 1995, being the first and done with friend David Roth). Both enlisted the help of a variety of fellow artists performing and contributing royalties and profits to the Center’s Vision Fund. Throughout her career, Anne has taken time to do occasional theater projects such as Quilters (Buffalo’s Studio Arena and Chicago’s Northlight, 1985-86), The Courtship of Carl Sandburg with Bob Gibson (in 1984 at Chicago’s Apollo and Northlight and Lansing’s Boarshead) and co-writing the music with Jay Ansill for, as well as performing in, Lovers (Philadelphia’s Arden Theater 1995). Scarlet Confessions (Victory Gardens Theater July 2002) and The Heartsongs of Opal Whiteley(a multi-media production) at The Maureen Stapleton Theater in Troy, NY September 2007. Anne resides in Bethlehem, PA with her husband Mark Moss, editor of Sing Out! Magazine, and their daughter Tamlyn.

Michael J. Miles, world-renowned banjo master, is releasing his eighth CD entitled American  Bach Revisited featuring J.S. Bach’s Cello Suites I and III, as well as Miles’ original  composition “Chicago Suite.” Accompanying Miles on the recording and in concert is Jill  Kaeding, one of Chicago’s finest cellists who has shared the stage with Ray Charles, Stevie  Wonder, Corky Siegel and many others.   Chicago Suite is a 5-movement musical portrait of the streets and alleys of the city that Miles  calls home including “Lower Wacker” & “Glenwood.” And a special surprise, for contrast, will  be a preview of guitar and cello arrangements of classic popular songs by Carole King,  Stephen Sondheim and others.       “Michael J. Miles beautifully renders Bach’s Cello Suites on steel-stringed banjo,  preserving the mellow warmth and noble soul of these timeless works. It’s a vibrant  album you’ll want to listen to again and again.”   - Jeremy Eichler, Chief Classical Music Critic for the Boston Globe  “These are not simplified arrangements, but rather note-for-note transcriptions of Bach's  complex scores, performed with outstanding taste and musicianship. Michael J. Miles can  arguably be considered today's best and most versatile practitioner of clawhammer style  banjo.” - Tim Jumper, author, musician, critic for Banjo Newsletter  “I am absolutely gobsmacked by this wonderful work of art! The performance of every selection  is impeccable. Michael's banjo playing and interpretation of these cello suites is stunning and  the interplay with superb cellist Jill Kaeding is quite tasteful and moving. Bravo Michael Miles!”   - Greg Cahill, Grammy Nominee & Founder of Special Consensus Bluegrass Band

When singer songwriter Mark Dvorak began his career in music he knew right away he’d be in it for the long haul. Thirty-five years later Mark is still writing, recording and on the road performing. “At this stage of the game,” said the singer from his home outside Chicago, Illinois, “I feel like I’m doing my best work.” The Chicago Tribune called him “masterful,” and the Fox Valley Folk Festival describes him as “a living archive of song and style.” In 2012 WFMT 98.7 fm Midnight Special host Rich Warren named him Chicago’s “official troubadour.” Mark has given concerts in almost all of the United States and has made visits to Finland, Canada and Ireland. To date he has released twenty albums of traditional, Americana and original song including 2020s acclaimed Let Love Go On and 2024s Live & Alone. Dvorak has won awards for children’s music, journalism and was honored in 2013 with the FARM Lantern Bearer Award from Folk Alliance International. In 2008 he received the Woodstock Folk Festival Lifetime Achievement Award.

While still in his teens, Don Stiernberg learned to play the mandolin from the innovative and influential virtuoso Jethro Burns. Jethro referred to Don as his "graduate student", hired him to play in his band, and guided him to a career as a professional musician which has already lasted for decades. A leading exponent of jazz mandolin style, Don has nine recording projects of his own and appears on many others by a variety of artists in all styles. The most recent of these is "Good Numbers", a jazz CD by the trio. The numbers include standards, jazz tunes and one original. The trio includes two renowned Chicago jazz musicians. Guitarist Andy Brown is known for his brilliance with all facets of guitar playing in this style-accompaniment, blazing solo lines, and his own unique chordal style. Jim Cox is everyone's favorite bass player, with performance and recording credentials ranging from Earl Hines to Judy Roberts to Marian McPartland to Rosemary Clooney and countless others. The trio has performed from Portland east to Portland west as well as overseas visits to festivals in Germany and Brazil. Their style might be described as swinging interpretations of accessible jazz material played acoustically on mandolin (and occasional vocal), guitar, and bass. Or in short..Good Pickin' on the Good Numbers.