All-star band of women reunites for Mother’s Day shows in Minneapolis
What started as a one-off TV gig evolved into five decades of Minnesota music stalwarts.
By Jon Bream
The Minnesota Star Tribune
May 4, 2026
Jearlyn Steele was the last to arrive at rehearsal, and there were smiles and hugs all around.
Women Who Cook — a Twin Cities special-occasion collective of seven singers and six instrumentalists — haven’t performed together since 2002. The singers were rehearsing recently for a Mother’s Day gig.
“Jearlyn, do you feel comfortable starting?” Ginger Commodore asked as five of the singers huddled around a piano with lyric sheets at Prudence Johnson’s Minneapolis home.
Steele didn’t hesitate, unleashing a “hallelujah” like she was testifying at church.
Mary Jane Alm followed with “hallelujah,” then Kathy Mueller, Johnson and finally Commodore. There’s nothing like Sunday morning on a Friday afternoon.
Women Who Cook started out as “a theme show” in 1982 on Twin Cities public television, on a variety program when its two women TV producers put together an “inventive, experimental combining of musicians most of whom hadn’t yet reached 30 years old,” recalled producer Marian Moore.
It clicked. Women Who Cook did a concert months later at the Guthrie, performed on opening night of the Fine Line in 1987, and went on a “peace tour” gigging in the Soviet Union a year later.
After attending a funeral last year and realizing time is slipping away, Johnson came up with the idea of a Women Who Cook reunion concert for Mother’s Day, since these women are mothers, grandmothers and, in some cases, great-grandmothers. She pitched the idea to Lowell Pickett at the Dakota last fall, got the green light and started making calls.
The lineup is remarkably intact except for a couple of retirees and the late Jeanne Arland Peterson, the group’s matriarch who died at age 91 in 2013.
All the other singers, who all still have music careers, have returned as have three musicians.
Here is a look at the singers and producer Moore.
Mary Jane Alm
Last gig: “Janis, Stevie, Dolly and Me,” April 25, Worthington Memorial Auditorium of Performing Arts
Next gig: Two Girls and a Boyd, May 16, 318 Café, Excelsior
Q: What impact did Women Who Cook have on the Minnesota music scene for women?
A: We showed the community (and the Soviet Union) that women musicians can not only rock but can sell out major theaters. We showed that women were not merely “chick singers.” I believe that we challenged industry misogyny. I hope this had a positive effect on women in all walks of life here in the Twin Cities.
Ginger Commodore
Last gig: “Return to Studio 54, Disco Divas,” April 26, Crooners, Fridley
Next gig: Moore by Four at Park Square Theatre’s 50th-anniversary Bravo Ball, June 20, St. Paul
Q: What’s the difference between singing close harmony with Women Who Cook vs. Moore by Four?
A: It’s actually the same difference. I thank my ear training for helping me to be able to move between the two groups. The differences are in the voicings of the arrangements, which are based on the arranger’s musical thoughts. I just need to read and memorize the charts I’m given.
Jane Henderson
Last gig: Praise Band, January 2025, Golden Valley Lutheran Church
Next gig: Not performing anymore.
Q: Of all the singers, you seemed to have pursued teaching over performing. Why did you pursue that route?
A: I played the piano and sang at Basil’s in the IDS Center for about 15 years. I had an amazing classical piano teacher, and I guess I felt like she was telling me to pass it on. So I went into teaching. I’ve been doing that for 22 years. At one point, I had 50 students. Now I’m down to about 10.
Prudence Johnson
Last gig: Halcyon Jazz Quartet, April 30, Dunsmore Room at Crooners, Fridley
Next gig: Richard Kriehn with Kevin Kling and Prudence Johnson, June 13, 318 Cafe, Excelsior
Q: You probably do the most and greatest variety of shows of any of the Women Who Cook singers. How do you keep track of the different repertoires and how much prep do you do for each gig?
A: There are a lot of three-ring binders stacked up around here, and the desktop on my computer is littered with folders for this and that. Fifteen different projects. One of them (“Mrs. Parker, Mr. Porter”) was six days a week of rehearsal, then four shows a week for 10 weeks, with 14 other projects sprinkled in, including a benefit concert I produced on Feb. 24 for Ukraine, and two grant proposals I wrote to fund some teaching artists to come to Mallard Island (in Rainy Lake) this summer. Self-improvement activities like practicing guitar and working out have fallen by the wayside.
Gwen Matthews
Last gig: “The Night Before Easter,” April 4, Chanhassen Dinner Theatres
Next gig: “The Look of Love: Songs of Burt Bacharach and Hal David,” July 26, Chanhassen Dinner Theatres
Q: You and Ginger are the only Women Who Cook singers whose child(ren) followed you into music. Why do you think that is and what pitfalls did you warn your daughter about?
A: My daughter Kandii showed signs of being a creative when she was still a baby. I had her on stages with me singing and shaking her tambourine to “Who’s That Lady” at the Home Bar when she was 2½. She was the life of all my home parties. She was a natural. My little girl who had perfect rhythm and a great ear for pitch. The first band of mine that Kandii was in was my gospel group, Back to You. Oh, and I never warned her of any dangers because she was living this life with me.
Kathy Mueller
Last gig: “Parables,” May 3, Wayzata Community Church
Next gig: “Rainy Days and Mondays” Carpenters tribute, May 7-9, Chanhassen Dinner Theatres
Q: Since you’re the resident vocal arranger/choir director, how has the change in voices affected Women Who Cook and what have you had to do?
A: While most of the voices haven’t changed in ranges, we enjoy singing a bit lower in pitch. One of the most beautiful parts of this group is our ability to collaborate on musical ideas. It could be as simple as the length of a note, a rhythmic variation in a phrase, or an inflection that would give it more of a gospel feel. We all come from such different backgrounds in music, but the respect we have for each other’s abilities is remarkable.
Jearlyn Steele
Last gig: The Pianist Knows with Fred Steele, April 1, Crooners, Fridley
Next gig: Amazing Grace Choir, May 30, Fellowship Minneapolis
Q: You’ve been harmonizing with your brothers and sisters for your entire life. Please compare harmonizing with the Steeles to harmonizing with Women Who Cook, all of whom you don’t work with very often.
A: Women Who Cook keep coming. It’s my pure joy to be with those women. The harmonies come naturally. Women Who Cook start singing and everyone gets it together. If I’m not singing the best thing, I’m OK. We keep going. We are sisters no matter.
Marian Moore, producer
Q: Women Who Cook started as a concept for a TV program. What were the takeaways from what it became and what it demonstrated?
A: We thoroughly enjoy experiencing our collective gifts, talent and power as women. There is also a layer of depth and meaning added when the shows are in service of community in some way. All of the singers have been professionally singing for over 50 years. Another takeaway: How lucky we are for the depth of talent and relationships woven over decades that have been able to sustain careers (even given the seriously challenging economics) and deliver extraordinary music.