Big Top's House Band, The Blue Canvas Orchestra, is the heart and soul of Lake Superior Big Top Chautauqua. Since 1985, this all-star group of musicians has been creating and performing original music that brings the stories of Wisconsin’s Northwoods to life.

Blending folk, blues, bluegrass, and Americana, the BCO’s high-energy shows mix powerful songs with rich storytelling and stunning visuals. From shipwrecks on Lake Superior to tales of Ojibwe culture and the Civilian Conservation Corps, their performances are immersive, moving, and uniquely regional.
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They’ve shared the stage with artists like Michael Perry, Peter Yarrow, and Willie Porter—but it’s their homegrown work that defines them. With every show under the Big Top tent, the Blue Canvas Orchestra keeps the spirit of the North alive.

ARTIST BIOs

Phil Anich
Guitars | Vocals

​Phillip Anich first joined the Warren Nelson (eventually the  BCO) tribe of musicians in 1983 when he was Postmaster of Washburn. In 1985, Phillip was near graduation at the US Postal Inspection Service academy in Potomac Maryland when he received a post card in the mail from Warren. "Hey Philipe! We're doing another show. It's called Riding the Wind. Come join us!" It took a few years but Phillip eventually followed his heart back home and became the first employee of the Big Top in the spring of 1989. First as Publicist, eventually,  his title changed to Operations Manager. Phillip retired in 2021 after 32 years with his beloved Big Top but continues to perform. An inventor with two patents, he toys with  methods of harvesting solar energy.
Nate bean
Bass | Vocals

​My name is Nathan Bean  and I’m originally from Middletown, OH, a shrinking steel town about 30 miles north of Cincinnati. I started playing guitar in high school, which was a way for me to connect with people and make some friends. I moved to Ashland to attend Northland College, and during that time I played at open mics, in the jazz band, and with an eclectic band made up of students called The Sheeptones.
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Several bands later I met Corey Carlson and began playing with Fido and the Love Dogs. Right around 2016 Corey was putting a Beatles show together with Severin Behnin, and asked if I would like to be in the performance. I couldn’t say no - after all it was the Beatles’ music that I was first learning back in high school all those years ago. I’m a little embarrassed about how nervous I was to be playing on that big stage. All the lights. All the people. It was so much fun! I’ve played in lots of house shows since that first opening night. Being around all these great musicians, in front of an audience that is so supportive and appreciative, I sincerely hope I get to play on the big stage for many years to come.

During the day I am an ELA teacher at Ashland High School. I enjoy tinkering with instruments and electronics, mountain biking, traveling, and most of all spending time with my wife Kaja, and son Rogan. If you ever want to see me perform outside of the tent keep an eye out for some of the other groups I play with: Two Below Zero, Foreign Object, Hoff Stevens, Champagne Glitter Train, and Fido and the Love Dogs.
yazmin bowers
Keys | Vocals | Accordion

​Yazmin grew up on the Big Top stage as both her parents T Bruce Bowers and Hope McLeod were original members of the BCO. Yazmin started playing the piano and singing before she could walk. At age 12 while on the path of classical piano competition, she happened upon Afro-Cuban music for the first time and her life took a new direction. She spent over a decade studying Latin piano with Rebeca Mauleón-Santana in San Francisco and eventually moved to Cuba to continue her studies. She also received a full scholarship to study piano and composition at McNally Smith College of Music in St. Paul, MN. Yazmin has toured nationally and recorded three albums. Highlights from her career include opening for Nanci Griffith, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and being featured on Michael Feldman’s Whad’Ya Know? radio program. Aside from music, she’s also an accomplished painter, dancer, teacher, and tour guide of the island of Cuba.

www.yazminmusic.com
https://www.facebook.com/yazminmusic
https://www.instagram.com/yazminmusic
corey carlson
Guitar | Vocals
jack gunderson
Bass | Vocals
scott kirby
Guitar | Vocals

​I am thrilled to be part of the big top Chautauqua organization and just completed my 2nd season as a member of the blue canvas orchestra. I had my first opportunity to perform on the big top stage in 2009 during the celebration of song festival. I participated in the songwriting contest and was first runner up and was able to open up for Suzanne Vega. That was also my first introduction to Ed Willett and Cheryl Leah- they were leading a songwriting workshop that I attended. That year I also met Phillip Anich for the first time. I volunteered to help take down the tent that fall and remember being in awe of the way he scuttled up lifts and ladders in order to ensure the canvas was retired safely. (i can certainly appreciate the structure that exists now and while there was a certain ritual of raising and lowering the tent that marked the start and end of each season- i think everyone involved in that endeavor would agree that they are glad to put that ritual to rest) A number of years later, Ed was brought in the studio to work on some string arrangements for an album of mine. A performance in 2020 for the Dillmans Bay resort in Lac du flambeau, would provide the next opportunity for me to work with Ed and the subsequent winter season saw our duo work blossom in frequency and fostered our musical friendship. What a tremendous honor it is to bе able to make new memories under that blue canvas. I keep a pretty busy schedule (www.scottkirbymusic.com) but I really treasure the times that I get to look out on those old wooden pews and theater seats and see my son singing and dancing along with the music. Find my on social media by looking for @scottkirbymusic and thanks for allowing me to make music under this #bigbluetent
billy knoblauch
Bass Guitar
tom mitchell
Drums | Vocals

​I’m glad to be able to write this to you. If you have been to a Lake Superior Big Top Chautauqua House Show you may have heard and seen me. As a part of the BCO---the Blue Canvas Orchestra---I get to drum, sing, read aloud, act, write, and direct. I know I am very fortunate, even blessed, to be able to do these things. To be creative, to work, to play, all the while living right here in far northern Wisconsin. Where there are many more trees than people. Where we drink the water from the tap.. Where I can be grateful for the opportunity to live, walk, work, and play on this land with the knowledge of and appreciation for those who lived and worked and loved here long before I arrived. If you live here too, you know. If you are a visitor, come to know. And appreciate. Thank you.
warren nelson
Co-Founder | Guitar | Banjo | Vocals
Ed Willett
Musical Director | Cello | Guitar | Vocals

​Ed Willett is a cellist, guitarist, composer, arranger, and vocalist. He earned a Bachelor of Music degree in performance from the West coast's premier music conservatory the University of Southern California in Los Angeles where he studied with cellist Eleanor Schoenfeld. While studying in Los Angeles, he had the great honor of being chosen principal cellist for the American Youth Symphony under Maestro Mehli Mehta, the former violinist in the famous Budapest String Quartet and father of Zubin Mehta, and to participate in the world renowned Piatigorsky master class for cellists. After graduation from U.S.C. he freelanced as a studio musician, participating in hundreds of recording sessions as well as performing in numerous symphony orchestras, including the Honolulu Symphony, the Pasadena Symphony, the Glendale Chamber Orchestra, and the Los Angeles Mozart Orchestra. He toured for several years for Columbia Artists Management with the Clarion Trio as part of their Community Concert Series until in 1986 he co-founded "Chance" with vocalist Cheryl Leah and began his career as a composer and alt. cellist.  With Chance, he's had compositions featured on T.V.s Northern Exposure, he's toured extensively in the U.S. and in Europe.  In 2012 and 2013 he performed 93 concerts with pop/rock icon Rickie Lee Jones. In 2024 he wrote with his partner Cheryl Leah an original Halloween Musical and he's presently co-musical director for the “Lake Superior Big Top Chautauqua.  ​
danielle diamond
Keys | Vocals

​Danielle Diamond has been crediting Big Top for her success as a performer and songwriter ever since winning the first ever Big Top Idol competition in 2010. The following year, she auditioned for a role in what would be her first BCO production, Ladies of the Canyon. Since then, she's appeared in many other house shows every season. In 2023, Danielle was honored to co-direct the reprise of Ladies of the Canyon, the show that started her lifelong commitment to Big Top. She looks forward to many more exciting seasons and lessons in musicianship ahead! 

You can find Danielle's original music streaming on all music platforms. 
Instagram: @daniellediamondmusic   
Facebook: www.facebook.com/DanielleDiamondMusic
vinceNT osborn
Bass Guitar | Stand-Up Bass
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I’m originally from Waseca, Minnesota and now make my home in Duluth. I began playing electric bass when I was 15 years old (50 years ago!). I was playing bass clarinet in the band and I wanted to play in the jazz band, so I became a bass player. After two years of college, I joined the Air Force in 1978 and spent the following 20 years playing in the Air Force bands around the world. I was stationed at Offutt AFB, NE; Ramstein AB, Germany; Pease AFB, NH; Langley AFB, VA; and Yokota AB, Japan. I began learning the acoustic bass when I was 25 and studied with James Orleans of the Boston Symphony. I met my wife in Williamsburg, VA when I was hired to play at the church where she was the associate pastor (it’s the United Methodist Church across the street from William & Mary). We were married in that church in 1995 and then spent our first three years together in Japan! What a honeymoon! When it came time to retire in 1998, Sharon (who is from Media, PA) suggested we move to Minnesota, so we ended up in Sandstone, where Sharon preached at the church and I won a position in the Duluth Superior Symphony (currently the assistant principal bass and program annotator) and am now in my 25th season. I finished my college degrees at The College of St Scholastica and the University of Minnesota.
I met Ed Willett when I went to Ashland to play with the orchestra on his cello concerto in 1999. We immediately connected and over the years played some music together. The DSSO performed at Big Top and I got to meet the folks and fell in love with the whole scene there. I feel so honored when Ed and/or Severin ask me to play a show. There is such a welcoming atmosphere with the people at Big Top and I readily state that playing there is the most fun I have all year long!
When I’m not playing with the DSSO or the BCO, I also play with the Big Time Jazz Orchestra, the Northern Lights Music Festival Orchestra, I teach bass lessons at UWS and privately, and I do a lot of free-lance work. I’m also the president of Local 18, American Federation of Musicians.
We have two cats, Jasmine and Sherlock. I’m an avid reader and I love to cook (and eat) all sorts of ethnic foods. And, of course, music!
randy sabien
Violin | Vocals | Guitar

Randy has over 40 years of performing experience as a contemporary violinist from touring as singer/songwriter Jim Post’s sideman, recording with Greg Brown, appearing on Austin City Limits with Kate Wolf, guest on Prairie Home Companion, shows with Corky Siegel, to leading his own bands often featuring triple fiddles. Founded the string department at the Berklee College of Music in Boston in 1978 then thirty years later headed the string department at McNally Smith College of Music in St. Paul. He is the author of the ground breaking jazz method for strings “Jazz Philharmonic” published by Alfred Music. He has recorded a dozen albums which are available online at randysabien.com. 
james shafstall
Guitar | Vocals

James Shafstall is a guitar player, singer, and songwriter. He grew up in the Northwoods; after a 20-year life journey that took him far from home, both geographically and spiritually, he is happy to be living
back in his homeland and playing, teaching, and promoting music for a living. His music reflects both his diverse experiences and the spirit of the North. While growing up in the small town of Solon Springs, Wisconsin, as a small boy James had three defining things happen: he became obsessed with the big ontological questions of life; he fell in love with creative writing; and he started taking guitar lessons. By the time he was a teenager, these three fascinations were working together like three intertwined threads, continually tying him in contemplative knots. His mind having been truly rapt with these threads, James started off his adulthood as a Music Performance major at UW-Superior, studying classical guitar and jazz. However, ever-doubting himself and searching for a living that was rather “practical,” he transferred to UW-Oshkosh to study Recording Technology. A blend of music and technical skills, it seemed like the perfect fit. Two years later, though, he deemed that too impractical as well. Cursing himself for getting sucked into music multiple times, he swore to stop pursuing the creative life once and for all. To that end, he came up with the nuclear solution to his life: he joined the US Navy. Off to boot camp, he left his guitars behind completely. He dropped music and all creative pursuits, cold turkey. He thought he would see the world, maybe in small part live up to his dad’s military experience. He would learn skills that were practical. Or so he thought. Instead, his Navy career came to a quick end in a mental hospital in Corpus Christi, Texas. Over subsequent years, his recovery from that bottom-rung of his life found him picking up the guitar again, completing his undergraduate degree in creative writing at Lakeland University back in Wisconsin, developing a career in marketing, getting married, having three children, and going through the master’s program in Mass Communication at Marquette University. For years James successfully grinded his way through a normal-seeming life. But still there was music, and those three threads from his childhood – the incessant contemplation, the writing, and the music – pulling tightly around his brain. In addition, his childhood home up North was always calling him from afar. The normal workaday life was not to be a long-term fit. And so, after the twenty-year journey that took him across the country and back again, and having
redefined himself over and over again, James and his family moved back up North. James and his wife Becky now own a music store in Washburn named Lakewinds Music (www.lakewindsmusic.com) that works with school music programs across Northern Wisconsin,
featuring a teaching and recording studio drywalled and wired by his own hands. In addition to playing with the Blue Canvas Orchestra, you will find him performing solo and in various groups across the Chequamegon Bay area, or in his studio at Lakewinds Music, teaching and composing, or with his wife and three daughters. James’s view is that our life stories are the most important thing, and
brings all of his diverse musical, writing, and work experience to bear in his performances and teaching.
molly otis
Violin | Mandolin | Guitar | Vocals | Vying for Best Dressed

After years of playing, recording and touring, I moved back to the area I loved most, Bayfield.  My family lived on the opposite side of Mt. Ashwabay and we would go to big top often. Played the tent numerous times in the 90s as Molly and the Heymakers, Warner Bros. Artists. We had moderate success on the country charts. Saw the world touring! 

Big Top and the BCO offer an ever-changing musical environment that is both challenging and rewarding. I am deeply grateful to be part of this organization and so very glad to have such a professional group so close to home.   

Looking forward to Apple Fest,
Molly 
ROWAN NELSON-FERRIS
Banjo | Vocals

​Rowan Nelson-Ferris is a banjo and guitar player who is genealogically affiliated with Warren Nelson and Betty Ferris, founders of Big Top Chautauqua.  He plays in Riding the Wind and in the Warren Nelson & Friends band which has reportedly been sighted performing in small venues deep in the Northwoods.   Rowan also sings and writes songs and works full time for Madeline Island Ferry Line. 
Severin behnen
Musical Director | Piano | Vocals | Accordion | Keys