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Debbie Vilchis Ornelas was born in Mexico City, where she was immersed in a vibrant musical culture from a young age. Influenced by her father, a former radio DJ, Debbie developed a lifelong appreciation for music’s power to connect people. She pursued her education at the University of Kansas, earning a Bachelor of Science in Molecular Biosciences, and spent several years working in the medical field. However, her passion for service led her to transition into the hospitality industry, where she could focus on building meaningful connections and community. Debbie’s commitment to music and community has defined her career. She has served on the Board of Directors for the Heartland Song Network and now holds the position of President, where she continues her personal mission to promote unity and inspiration through music.

Nick Carswell is a musician, organizer and cultural producer. Nick has been performing professionally for 25 years, in his native Ireland and across the US Midwest, where he has lived since 2011. His main creative output is as songwriter and frontman for the alt-rock 5 piece, Carswell & Hope. Nick has also made award-winning short films, produced radio programs, and created large scale public art projects in Lawrence and Kansas City.

Nick has wide experience with arts & cultural non-profits, community organizing, public art and professional development. He is currently program manager for the Audio-Reader Network, an audio information service for individuals with print-disabilities.

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Beau Bledsoe performs and records classical music, jazz and folkloric music from around the world as he seeks to integrate different musical cultures with diverse audiences. Through his many varied projects and ensembles, Beau has toured extensively throughout Europe, Russia, South America and North America in addition to producing fifteen recordings under his recording label Tzigane. Beau is currently artistic director and founder of Ensemble Ibérica which explores the music of Spain, Portugal, and the colonial Americas while educating the public about Iberian cultural influence.

Julie Bennett Hume is a singer-songwriter from Stilwell, KS. She has been playing and writing music for over 35 years in the Lawrence/Kansas City area. She has played and sung in various ensembles including a blues trio, an Afro-Cuban ensemble, various string bands, a Cajun ensemble and folk/Americana duos and ensembles. She currently performs solo and with the duo “The Stray Grays” (with Leslie Giggler) and “ Lost Cowgirl Revue” . Her newest CD of original songs, ​VInegar​, was released in 2019. Julie also teaches German at a local high school and is the producer and host of the KKFI program “River City Chautauqua."

Lisa Harris-Frydman grew up in Central New York and has called Lawrence, Kansas home for several decades. She performs in a duo with her songwriter husband, Rick Frydman, and together they host Eastside Folk, a music venue located in a local church that seats about 200.

Lisa began singing in high school choir and church, later developing an interest in songwriting. She performed for over a decade on the Good Times Radio Review with musical director Bill Crahan, and has played with old-time string bands including The Kaw Girls, Ragged-but-Right, and Peghead.

She is a member of the International Folk Alliance and the Lawrence Music Alliance, and has been both a judge and a winner (ensemble singing) at the Kansas State Fiddling Championship. Lisa is also a popular caller of contradances throughout the Midwest, always calling to live music.

She is pleased to support the mission of the Heartland Song Network and is especially interested in creating new programs to support local string band musicians and singer/songwriters.

Rick Frydman grew up in Lawrence, Kansas and has been a part of the Lawrence music scene since attending KU back in the late 1970’s. While in college he hosted the alternative country program, “The Ethnic Cowboy,” on KJHK Radio where he featured music of local singer-songwriters along with many celebrated national performers such as, Townes Van Zandt, John Prine, Butch Hancock, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Iris Dement and Nanci Griffith. Rick won the 1982 Jay Cooper Award for Excellence in Broadcasting. Rick later brought his Ethnic Cowboy show to KANU Radio.

On his show, Rick had the opportunity to interview many of his favorite artists and bands, such as Asleep at the Wheel, David Alan Coe, The Amazing Rhythm Aces, Robert Earl Keen and Lucinda Williams. The interviews led Rick to develop an interest in promoting many of these artists for area concerts. He brought John Hartford, Janice Ian, Louden Wainwright, Hot Rize, New Grass Revival, Richard Thompson, David Byrne, David Grisman and many others to perform in Lawrence and Kansas City.

Rick and two friends also started the annual Kaw Valley Songwriters Festival that ran through the 1980’s and the early 1990’s. The festival featured a contest judged by visiting artists such as Butch Hancock, John Gorka, David Wilcox, Cheryl Wheeler and Lucinda Williams. The contest helped local songwriters get an audience to hear their songs. The contest winners were awarded free recording time at respected Kansas City recording studios.

Rick started writing songs when he was 16 and in time started sending his originals to songwriting contests in Kansas and Texas. He was awarded first place at the songwriting contest in Winfield and was selected twice to compete in person at the Kerrville Folk Festival in Texas.

He sang and played guitar in several local bands over the years and now enjoys singing with his wife, Lisa Harris-Frydman, in a band with the unlikely name of Frydman & Harris.

Rick and Lisa promote music together at the Vintage Church just down the street from their Lawrence home. The church is the former home of the Lawrence Community Theatre. The venue has a very special music connection for them, as Rick booked Townes Van Zandt there back in the 1990’s and Lisa and her musical partner, Bill Crahan, opened the sold-out show.

Through the Heartland Song Network, Rick has an opportunity to continue his love of promoting music and connecting with singer-songwriters. He is very happy to be a part of Heartland!

Gracie Caggiano is an eclectic poet-composer, performer, and producer based in Kansas City, MO. Empathetic and fatefully existential, Gracie muses on complex emotions and human experiences, crafting poetic spaces where listeners can speculate about love, vulnerability, and disability. Whether songwriting in popular genres or composing concert music, Gracie synthesizes diverse stylistic elements from her popular-music background and classical training.

Gracie creates embodied music which champions the limitations of her disability and reclaims the aesthetic value of fragility. As a performer, she is known for her hauntingly beautiful vocals and authentic delivery. Her idiosyncratic guitar work often employs alternate tunings to facilitate weakness in her hands. In May 2024, Gracie released her debut album I can’t be anything but human. In 2025, Gracie performed at the Kansas City Folk Festival and Manor Records’s Manor Fest 7.

Gracie frequently collaborates on a range of creative projects, from writing short-film scores and dance pieces, to producing and co-writing songs for and with other singer-songwriters. Gracie has composed concert music for the Stetson University Chorale, UMKC Graduate Fellowship String Quartet, and And2 Percussion. Her concert works have also been performed by the Stetson University Concert Choir and the Lyric Opera of Kansas City (with No Divide KC). In July 2025, through ArtsKC’s Community Gallery Program, Gracie organized Kansas City’s first Disability Pride, featuring over twenty local, disabled and neurodivergent artists.

Gracie holds composition degrees from Stetson University (B.M. ‘21) and the University of Missouri-Kansas City (M.M. ‘23).