It's ladies night on Northland radio's Studio Sessions

March 29, 2012

Northland College radio station 97.7 WRNC-LP features two talented young women performing on the local music scene this Friday, March 30, at 7:30 p.m. Local musicians Danielle Nepstad and Yazmin Bowers are the next featured guests during a special one-hour installment of "Studio Sessions." WRNC Music Director and Northland student Jeremiah Cornehl hosts the radio segment, interviewing local artists and bands about the music they create. Musicians perform live in-studio or bring tracks from their latest work for broadcast.

Danielle Nepstad started singing as a child while living in the Black Hills of South Dakota. In 1998, her family moved to the shores of Lake Superior, settling in Washburn. Nepstad says the Chequamegon Bay area has helped her grow and thrive as a musician.

"This tiny little area just amazes me, and it was just a blessing to grow up here where I could have my talent and let it mature with me," says Nepstad.

Nepstad, who writes her own songs, won Big Top Chautauqua's first "Big Top Idol" competition in 2010. The next year she was cast as a member of Big Top Chautauqua's recurring show, "Ladies of the Canyon." She graduated from Washburn High School in 2011 and is recording her first album in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Nepstad hopes to release the album sometime this summer.

Yazmin Bowers is a member of the father-daughter duo Beat Zero. Bowers has been performing with her father, Bruce Bowers, for the last two years. She also performs her own original songs in Beat Zero. Bowers says as the daughter of two professional musicians - her father plays violin and guitar while her mother, Hope McLeod, writes songs - that she was "reared on a steady diet of diverse, worldly music emanating from inside The Lake Superior Big Top Chautauqua."

"In playing music on stage, the biggest thing I hope my audience comes away with and what makes me feel like I've done my job is when someone says to me that they're inspired to do their own music or dance or whatever," says Yazmin Bowers.

"When I play music, I feel better," added father Bruce Bowers. "It's almost like I've got a little bit of illness when I'm not playing music."

Yazmin Bowers won first place at Big Top Chautauqua's "Songwriter of the Year Competition" with her song "Working in the Shadows" in summer 2010. In 2011, she released an EP entitled ‘Solo,' touring solo around the Midwest and in California with Beat Zero.

Bruce Bowers is an award-winning violinist, guitarist and composer. Bowers plays with the Blue Canvas Orchestra of the Lake Superior Big Top Chautauqua.

WRNC welcomes local musicians who live in the Chequamegon Bay area to be interviewed on "Studio Sessions." Musicians are encouraged to share their thoughts about why music is important to them, as well as what inspires or influences them. Programs are recorded ahead of time and aired at a later date. Any local artists interested in being interviewed on the show may call (715) 682-1664 for more information or email md@wrnclp.org. Listeners may stream the show online at www.wrnclp.org.