THOMAS BELLER is the author of six books including Seduction Theory, The Sleep-Over Artist, J.D. Salinger: The Escape Artist, which won the New York City Book Award for biography/memoir, and, most recently, Degas at the Gas Station: Essays. He was a founder and editor of Open City Magazine, the publisher of MrBellersNeighborhood.com, a long-time contributor to The New Yorker, a professor and director of creative writing at Tulane University, and a recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Robert B. Silver's Works-in-Progress Award.

THE LO-I (formerly Morning Is Rising) are Chloe V. Green (on vocals, bass, and guitar) and Iarla Ó hAllmhuráin (on vocals, guitar, and bass). As longtime songwriters and performers with a deep collective catalog of songs, they formed The Lo-i as both a vehicle for their new co-writes, ans as a way to refashion their old songs around tight vocal harmonies and driving rhythms, drawing from folk-rock, post-punk and soul.

*photo by Cammie Wall

JOHN SAYLES is an independent filmmaker, screenwriter, actor, and novelist. He has twice been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, and once for the National Book Award. He has written eight novels, including, most recently, Jamie MacGillivray, To Save the Man, and his latest, Crucible.

*photo by Mary Cybulski

CHRIS SMITHER is truly an American original -- a profound songwriter who continues to draw deeply from the blues, American folk music, modern poets and philosophers. Perhaps best known for writing "Love You Like A Man" which Bonnie Raitt and, more recently, jazz great Diana Krall have covered, many of Smither's songs have been covered by numerous artists and featured in mulitple soundtrack albums, films, TV shows, and commercials. Says The New York Times: “With a weary, well-traveled voice and a serenely intricate finger-picking style, Mr. Smither turns the blues into songs that accept hard-won lessons and try to make peace with fate.”

*photo by Joanna Chattman