Singer-songwriter Jen West used a rippling creek running through a lush, green forest as a backdrop to shoot the video for her latest single “Reborn.” It’s a good setting as West — who performs on acoustic guitar and ukulele — has a sound as big as nature and writes sharp, introspective songs drawn from experience in the living world. Another single, “Scar,” featured on her YouTube channel, was shot on a sunny hillside under a leafy tree. “This song is about how the things that scar us in life shape who we’ve become,” she notes. “And to not be bogged down by regrets.”

Venus de Mars and All The Pretty Horses is a trans band that plays glam-punk music. Bassist Danimae Vossen and guitarist/vocalist Venus de Mars are both transgender. Drummer Jonathan Townsend and dancers Kat Morgan and Natalie Adams are trans allies. The band members blend their life experiences into their punk songs and dance performances. The group has gone through several lineup changes since forming in 1993. De Mars is one of the first openly trans people in the music industry.

Underground ’til Sundown, but what happens then? That’s when brothers Mitch and Bradley McCarroll, Ryan Juntunen and Teddy Dowling descend from Grand Rapids and begin to shred. These four blue-collar friends describe themselves as playing a blend of fast, loud punk rock and melodic hard-core music. Throw in a little thrashing, and you’ve got an Underground ’til Sundown show. The band formed in 2005, and has been blowing the doors off local venues since. The oxymoronically titled latest release, An Orchestrated Chaos, came out in 2024.

Breanne and Anya Tepler are a mother/daughter duo who perform charming children’s songs, pop covers and originals on guitar and piano. Their sound is unadorned, letting their personable vocals shine through. Two T’s in a Pod’s 2023 single “It’s Time to Go to Bentleyville” is played each year at Bayfront on the Bentleyville playlist, and the duo has performed the song at FinnFest, on Two Harbors Community Radio’s Beat Farm program and during a Christmas show at Northern Waters Smokehaus.