Breath of Soul, featuring Cedar Rapids native Jesse Upah (second from left), won an online contest to open for Lady Antebellum on Dec. 3, 2012, in Nashville. Upah's bandmates are (from left) Tony Marx, David Kempton and Jake Black. (Breath of Soul photo)

By Diana Nollen/ SourceMedia

Three Eastern Iowa natives are making waves nationally.

Iowa City native Paul Nelson, 23, a legislative correspondent in Sen. Chuck Grassley’s Washington, D.C., office will be a contestant on “Jeopardy!” on Friday (11/2/12). The show airs locally at 11:30 a.m. on KWWL, Channel 7.

Nelson, son of Scott Nelson and Tracy Nelson of Iowa City, was home-schooled all the way through high school, finishing in 2007. He then graduated summa cum laude from Wheaton College in Illinois in 2011. He majored in political science. Should serve him well on the popular answer-and-question quiz show!

Cedar Rapids Jesse Upah and his a cappella group Breath of Soul, won the online contest to open for Lady Antebellum. Upah’s quartet, based in Nashville, will perform during Lady A’s “On This Winter’s Night” concert Dec. 3, 2012, at Nashville’s Schermerhorn Symphony Center.

Upah is a 2002 graduate of Cedar Rapids Jefferson High School.

Cedar Rapids native Adam Hoffman and his band, The Shadowboxers, will open for the Indigo Girls’ sold-out concert Sunday (11/4/12) at the Englert Theatre in Iowa City. The Shadowboxers, based in Atlanta, is serving as the Indigo Girls’ band on the current tour.

Hoffman is a 2007 graduate of Cedar Rapids Washington High School.