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Gaelynn Lea got her big break when she won NPR Music's Tiny Desk Contest in 2016. Since then, she has captivated audiences around the world with her haunting original songs and traditional fiddle tunes. Gaelynn has collaborated with Michael Stipe (of REM), Alan Sparhawk, The Decemberists, and Wilco. In 2022, Gaelynn composed an original score for Macbeth on Broadway, starring Daniel Craig and Ruth Negga. She released the album version — Music From Macbeth — in May of 2025. Music aside, Gaelynn Lea is a sought-after public speaker about disability culture and accessibility in the arts. In 2021, she co-founded RAMPD (Recording Artists and Music Professionals with Disabilities) with fellow artist-activist Lachi. She is releasing her first book, It Wasn’t Meant to Be Perfect, in April 2026. It is a love-letter to every body — a warm, funny and deeply-felt memoir about disability, music, and the messy creativity of an artist’s life. You can read more about Gaelynn here. Amy Abts is a musician, writer, actor and artist who from the age of 7 has been performing consistently over 34 years. A native Minnesotan, Amy studied acting and started performing in her hometown of Rochester. Amy Abst recorded and released her first album in 1999 and has performed with such acts as Charlie Parr, Trampled By Turtles, Haley Bonar (now HALEY), Low, the Black Eyed Snakes, the Keep Aways, Both, and many others. In 2006 Amy began to have some unusual medical symptoms and in 2007 was diagnosed with a degenerative cranial nerve disorder at the Mayo Clinic. This ultimately led to 2 brain surgeries in '09 and '10. She moved to Seattle in 2010 to live and work but her symptoms continued to go downhill. Doctors advised her to return to her specialists at the Mayo Clinic. She moved to Rochester at the end of 2013. From 2015 to 2017 she experienced balance loss as a result of brain damage to her cerebellum. This led to many falls, one which ended up fracturing her right wrist. Surgery was performed and pins were installed. During this time she also experienced several eardrum ruptures, infections and treatment options for her cranial nerve disorder became very limited. Despite these setbacks, she continued to play and write music. In May of 2017 she took the opportunity to record an album of songs written during the last 9 years. This album was scheduled for release in 2017, but in September she was diagnosed with a hand tumor which left her unable to play guitar. It was surgically removed and found benign. The album Fifty-Fifty is was released in February of 2018. Amy is currently playing with her band The Transcranials, writing new music and is working on a collection of writings about her unusual medical journey.
