For decades, Kansas has had a thriving country and bluegrass scene. The Country Stampede Music Festival – one of the largest music festivals in the country – and the bluegrass/acoustic Walnut Valley Festival illustrate the continued popularity of these music genres in the state. Among current leading country artists are Martina McBride, Chely Wright, Jerrod Niemann, and Logan Mize, natives of Kansas.
The state has also fostered some rock acts – the one that is most associated with the state is almost certainly the hard rock band Kansas. Some famous and pioneering jazz musicians also had roots in Kansas.
History Pre-19th century
The first music performed in the area that is now Kansas was that of the Indigenous peoples who lived there.
19th century The earliest documented music comes after settlement by Anglo-Americans in the 1850s. One of the first musical works relating to Kansas was "Ho! For the Kansas Plains", a song written by James G. Clark in the 1850s, which mythologized the territory as the site of abolitionist battles during the Bleeding Kansas era. A representative lyric was "Ho! For the Kansas plains; Where men shall live in liberty; Free from the tyrant's chains." Along the same lines, some versions of the famous Civil War marching song "John Brown's Body" refer to John Brown's abolitionist activities in Kansas Territory during the same era.
Following the Civil War, as Kansas became known more for its cowboys, saloons and wide-open spaces, another notable song written in and about Kansas was "Home on the Range". It was penned in the state in the 1870s, and then spread throughout the American Old West as an unofficial anthem. It is now Kansas's official state song. The song established something of a template for Kansas music, and over the next several decades, music coming from Kansas remained in a similar folk or old-time music style, while lyrics referencing the state tended to focus on its open countryside.
Early 20th century Composer and musician Nathaniel Clark Smith, born at Fort Leavenworth, was an important music educator and bandleader in the early 1900s who led bands in Wichita and Kansas City and taught many jazz musicians such as vibraphonist Lionel Hampton. In the 1920s, the Kansas City jazz scene developed in eastern Kansas. Saxophonist and bandleader Coleman Hawkins, who introduced the tenor saxophone and bebop to jazz, was raised in Topeka, and began touring in eastern Kansas by 1918 at age fourteen, later collaborating with jazz legends Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, and Miles Davis.Yanow, Scott "Coleman Hawkins: Artist Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved December 27, 2013. Jazz and blues singer Ada Brown was born and raised in Kansas City, where she also released one of the first Kansas City jazz singles, "Evil Mama Blues". Drummer and bandleader Kansas Fields was born in Chapman and played with many jazz artists such as Gillespie and Ella Fitzgerald. Pianist, singer, and bandleader Joe Sanders was born in Thayer and performed in the Coon-Sanders Original Nighthawk Orchestra with drummer Carlton Coon. Harpist Betty Glamann was born in Wellington and played with musicians Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, and Davis. Singer and composer Nora Holt, a figure in the Harlem Renaissance and the co-founder of the National Association of Negro Musicians, was born in Kansas City. Choral conductor Eva Jessye, a contemporary of Holt and also an active Harlem Renaissance musician, was born in Coffeyville. Famous bandleader and pianist Stan Kenton, born in Wichita, released swing jazz records with his longtime band, the Stan Kenton Jazz Orchestra, and ran summer jazz programs for students in the 1950s and 60s known as the Stan Kenton Band Clinics.Sparke, Michael. Stan Kenton: This is an Orchestra. UNT Press (2010). . Saxophonist and jazz bandleader Charlie Parker, known for jazz standards such as "Now's the Time" and "Donna Lee", also came to prominence in Kansas City, having been born and raised there.Charlie Parker pbs.org Retrieved 9 August 2024 Rhythm and blues pianist Jesse Stone was born in Atchison and wrote the 1954 rock and roll hit "Shake, Rattle, and Roll". Outsider musician and composer Moondog was born in Marysville and later became known for his avant-garde and jazz music performances on the streets of New York City.Moondog eccentric musician・・ The Guardian.com Retrieved 15 May 2025
1960s In the 1960s, R&B, blue-eyed soul, and garage rock bands became popular in cities such as Hays and Lawrence with acts such as the Fabulous Flippers, The Blue Things, the Red Dogs, The Serfs, Eric & The Norsemen, The Sensational Showmen, Wade Flemons, and Mike Finnigan traveling the Midwest and releasing regional singles. Gene Clark, from Tipton, Missouri and a founding member of The Byrds, attended high school in Bonner Springs and began performing in the state.
1970s Hard prog rock band Kansas emerged from Topeka in 1973 and signed to Kirshner Records. They gained their most successful albums and songs throughout the 1970s. In 1976, Kansas released their quintuple-platinum album Leftoverture, featuring the hard rock classic "Carry On Wayward Son", which hit #11 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1977. Later that year, the band released their quadruple-platinum album, Point of Know Return, featuring the soft rock song "Dust in the Wind", which reached #6 on the Hot 100 in 1978. Their success continued into the 1980s with mainstream rock hits such as "Hold On," "Play the Game Tonight," "Fight Fire with Fire," and "All I Wanted." Kansas continues to record and tour after over fifty years.
Joe Walsh of Eagles and James Gang fame is a native of Wichita, although he spent his youth in Columbus, Ohio.Joe Walsh Joewalsh.com Retrieved 8 August 2024 Walsh released hit singles such as "Rocky Mountain Way" in 1973 and "Life's Been Good" in 1978. Famous singers from Kansas singersroom.com Retrieved 14 May 2025 Stanley Sheldon, a bassist from Ottawa, played with UK rocker Peter Frampton at the height of his career in the mid-1970s, including the top selling live concert album Frampton Comes Alive! Sheldon contributed as both bassist and songwriter on Frampton's instrumental album Fingerprints, which was a Grammy winner in 2007.
In the mid-1970s, the Wichita funk group and family band Rudy Love and the Love Family released singles such as "Does Your Mama Know" and "This Song Is For You." Rudy Love had also collaborated with funk musician Sly Stone for his 1975 album High On You. Rapper Jay-Z later sampled "Does Your Mama Know" in his song "Sweet" for his 2007 album American Gangster, with Love's permission.
Alto saxophonist Bobby Watson, born in Lawrence and raised in Kansas City, led several jazz bands such as The Jazz Messengers and Bobby Watson & Horizon starting in 1977 and most recently was the director of jazz studies at University of Missouri-Kansas City. Jazz guitarist Jerry Hahn grew up in Wichita and graduated from Wichita State University in 1962. He taught jazz guitar at Wichita State from 1972 to 1986 and established WSU's jazz guitar degree program.
1980s In the early 1980s, Wichita, Topeka, and Lawrence, together with Kansas City, Missouri, had a significant hardcore punk scene, centered at Lawrence's University of Kansas campus, and later at the Outhouse. Among the most popular bands were The Embarrassment, Get Smart!, and Mortal Micronotz.
Katrina Leskanich, from Topeka, sang lead vocals and played guitar for Katrina and the Waves in the 1980s and 1990s. The band's most popular song, "Walking on Sunshine," was a Top 10 hit worldwide in 1985.
Grammy and Dove Award-winning Christian music guitarist Phil Keaggy moved to Leawood in 1979 and spent the next several years there releasing solo CCM albums for Sparrow Records and Nissi Records, including his 1983 self-produced album Underground. From 1984 to 1988, both Kansas's lead guitarist Kerry Livgren and bassist Dave Hope, both from Topeka, performed in their own Christian rock band, AD, featuring vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Michael Gleason from Wichita. The band toured and released several albums together, including the 1984 album Time Line and the 1988 album Prime Mover, the latter of which Livgren remixed and remastered as Prime Mover II in 1998 and Prime Mover Redux in 2008.
Dawayne Bailey, a native of Manhattan, Kansas, toured and recorded with Detroit rock legend Bob Seger and the classic rock band Chicago. American rock band Shooting Star, notable for being the first American act signed by Virgin Records, hailed from Overland Park and had several moderately successful rock singles in the early 1980s.
1990s One of the most popular country singers to come from Kansas is Martina McBride. Originally from Sharon, Kansas, McBride made her breakthrough in 1993 with her second album, The Way That I Am, featuring her signature songs and top 20 hits "My Baby Loves Me" and "Independence Day". She scored her first #1 hit on the US Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in 1996 with "Wild Angels" from her 1995 album of the same name. McBride made more top selling albums and #1 hits throughout the 1990s and 2000s, including the platinum albums The Way that I Am, Wild Angels, Evolution, Emotion, Greatest Hits, and Martina, and the singles "A Broken Wing", "Wrong Again", "I Love You", "Blessed," and "This One's for the Girls". Another notable country artist, Chely Wright, from Wellsville, released her first top 20 country hit in 1997, "Shut Up and Drive", from the album Let Me In. She reached #1 in 1999 with "Single White Female" from the album of the same name.
In the 1990s, Kansas produced some bands that found regional and national success taking the predominant grunge aesthetic and adding a rockabilly or country music twang, a style sometimes grouped into alternative country.
Paw, out of Lawrence, became the most well-known of these bands following the 1993 release of their major-label album Dragline. Truck Stop Love, out of Manhattan, Kansas, had a somewhat similar sound and was also signed to a national label, Scotti Brothers Records, with the well-received How I Spent My Summer Vacation being an appropriate swan song. The Moving Van Goghs, also from Manhattan, with a psychedelic/rock aesthetic, is also a notable band during the "pre-grunge" time period in the Kansas music scene. Finally, Kill Creek, a Lawrence band since the 1980s period was signed by Mammoth Recordings and achieved critical national attention with three full LPs and an EP. The sound of these bands was comparable to some Neil Young and their out-of-state contemporaries Dinosaur Jr. and Nirvana.Srcunged Paws・・・ mostly-retro.com Retrieved 9 August 2024 Additionally, the indie all-girl rock band Frogpond found success in the late 90s with the 1996 album Count to Ten, produced by Everclear's lead singer Art Alexakis, and the 1999 album Safe Ride Home, while opening for pop rock bands like The Goo Goo Dolls and Fastball. Other bands from Kansas signed during the same period included Shiner, Sin City Disciples, Season to Risk, and Arthur Dodge and the Horsefeathers. Early contemporaries included The Pedaljets, a band fronted by Mike Allmayer who later formed Grither. The Pedaljets put out two LPs, Today Today (Twilight), The Pedaljets (Communion), and one 45 (Throbbing Lobster). Both albums received critical national attention. The Pedaljets toured the US extensively from 1984 to 1990, often opening for Hüsker Dü, The Flaming Lips, Soul Asylum, The Replacements, Meat Puppets, and other well known alternative bands of the 1980s. Late contemporaries included Grither, Zoom, Vitreous Humor, The Believe it or Nots, and Stick. Notable musicians of this time to come from Kansas are Mark Hart, Danny Carey, Kliph Scurlock, and Brody Buster.