Split the Baby – A Memoir in Pieces (Belle Point Press) chronicles the toll of divorce and family rupture from the perspective of a child who was nearly torn in two. Lauren Rhoades retells her experience of growing up caught between two conflicting homes run by equally strong women: a fervently Catholic stepmother and a deeply sensitive Jewish mother.

Lauren Rhoades is a writer, editor, and grantmaker living in Jackson, Mississippi.

Originally from Denver, Colorado, Lauren has served with AmeriCorps, started Mississippi’s first fermentation company, and helmed the Eudora Welty House & Garden.

She is now director of grants at the Mississippi Arts Commission and a host of The Mississippi Arts Hour heard on Mississippi Public Broadcasting.

In 2022, Lauren founded Rooted Magazine, an online publication dedicated to telling unfiltered stories about what it means to call Mississippi home.

She holds an MFA in creative writing from the Mississippi University for Women.

Jeffery Broussard, from Opelousas, LA, plays the one-row and three-row button accordions as well as the piano accordion. His latest album is, Boots and Boujee.

Jeffery’s father’s band, Delton Broussard and the Lawtell Playboys, was one of the pioneering zydeco ensembles.

The youngest of 11 children, Jeffery Broussard was raised on a farm in the rural community of Frilot Cove, Louisiana. He formed his band, The Creole Cowboys in 2004.

The music has roots in an earlier era: French-speaking African American musicians mixed older Cajun and French Creole dance music, known as “la la,” with blues, R&B, and rock and roll to create zydeco, which continues to evolve.

Trío romántico is a gorgeous music tradition from northern Mexico and the Rio Grande Valley.

It is often performed by groups with tres in their name, since the style is performed by three musicians.

Tres en Punto, a trío romántico from Mission, Texas – (guitarist Alberto Ortiz; Omar Javier, second voice, bass; and Gerardo Calera, third voice, requinto) – adds a cheeky layer to this naming tradition, using a phrase with an everyday meaning of “three o’clock on the dot” to suggest that their trio is exactly on time as well.

The dream for Tres en Punto is to continue playing trío romántico at home and worldwide, allowing audiences to revisit the golden age of this romantic music—and perhaps their own youthful romances as well.