Andrea Swensson is an author, podcast host, and music journalist in Minneapolis. She hosts the Official Prince Podcast and has written for numerous publications, including NPR Music, Pitchfork, the Star Tribune, City Pages, and Minnesota Public Radio's The Current, where she previously hosted "The Local Show." Her first book, Got to Be Something Here: The Rise of the Minneapolis Sound, also from the University of Minnesota Press, won a 2018 Minnesota Book Award.

James "Jimmy Jam" Harris III, the son of Minnesota blues legend James "Cornbread" Harris, is a Grammy-winning songwriter and producer from Minneapolis. He and Terry Lewis, known as Jam and Lewis, were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2022; the duo have written forty-one Top 10 hits in the United States and have more Billboard No. 1 hits than any other songwriting/production team. The musical icons they have worked with include Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige, and Usher.