Other Inductee Years
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Directors Award: Bob Hapgood Award: |
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Billy Bob & The Belaires, Beloit Billy Bob and the Belaires began in the early 1970’s in Beloit, KS. During the 20 plus years they were together they played in various venues in central Kansas, western Kansas, and southern Nebraska. The played a great variety of Rock and Roll, a little blues, and some country. |
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Charlie & The Stingrays, Kansas City Charlie and the Stingrays were born in 1985 while lead singer Charlie Stendebach was working at United Entertainment as a booking agent and an assistant in the recording studio. After being out of a band and off the road for a year he had been listening to a couple of acts in town who performed 60s & 70s material and thought “what if a band did all dance songs from that era and as close to the original recordings as possible?” With original members, Chris Moore (drums), Greg Murphy (guitar), Chris Jones (keys and guitar), and John Talbot (bass) they found out. Playing consistently in many of the area top venues and events, Charlie and the Stingrays lasted 30 years and played nearly 2800 shows. The band had many wonderful years sharing the stage with acts like The Doobie Brothers, Peter Frampton, Edgar Winter, Eddie Money, Blood Sweat & Tears, The Guess Who, The Romantics, Mitch Ryder, Sweet, BadFinger and many others. On June 7, 1999 Charlie and the Stingrays were inducted to the Kansas City American Bandstand Walk of Fame by owner Dick Clark. During their final year in 2015 the band played their 30th Anniversary Party in May, a Farewell Show in St Joseph (where 3 original members were from) in July, and then the last show August 29, which was an outdoor party with 600 friends in attendance. |
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King Alex & The Untouchables, Kansas City King Alex Littlejohn was one of the greatest pure blues singers ever to perform. Born in 1934 he was raised in Faraday, Louisiana where he was childhood friends with Jerry Lee Lewis, Mickey Gilley and Jimmy Swaggert. As a teenager, he moved to Kansas City where he lived in the 18th and Vine district,. Inspired by that thriving music scene, he learned to play bass and sing the blues, in the process recorded a number of singles for regional labels. He also worked with numerous famous bluesmen, including B.B. King. King Alex had been recording his original songs since 1959. In 1996 he played the Blues Estafette in Utrecht, The Netherlands. There, he signed with Black Magic Records and released the CD “Hot As A Coffeepot”. King Alex returned to Europe for a three week tour in 2002. After this tour, King Alex decided to cut a greatest hits CD, “The Cream Of King Alex”, covering over forty years of his song writing. Alex’s rich vocals are complimented by his powerful band, The Untouchables, featuring Robert Locke on drums and vocals, Bart Colliver on organ and piano, Tony Shaffer on guitar, Dana Smith on tenor saxophone and Steve Shoemaker on trombone and harmonica. For more information on King Alex, check out the feature article on him in Living Blues Magazine issue 157 volume 32 no.3 May-June 2001. |
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Mark Selby & The Sluggers, Salina Mark Selby & the Sluggers was a band known for rock, ragtime, r&b, classical, some country, and an assortment of other music styles. The 3-piece band consisting of Mark on guitar/vocals, Craig Balderston bass/vocals, Dave Wiggins and Mike Ward on drums. The group started in 1988, and played together for four years. Branching out, they always called Salina, KS their home, but enjoyed many Midwest tours over several states while together. Mark Selby received degrees in music composition and classical guitar from Fort Hays State University. Eventually moving to Nashville, he played guitar on recording sessions for artists such as Kenny Rogers, Wynonna Judd, Johnny Reid, Keni Thomas, and Jimmy Hall. However, Selby is perhaps best known for the number of songs that he co-wrote with the blues-rock artist Kenny Wayne Shepherd, which includes the #1 single “Blue on Black”. Selby also collaborated with his wife Tia Sillers on the #1 song “There’s Your Trouble”, which was recorded by the Dixie Chicks, and won the band their first Grammy Award for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal in 1999. |
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This KC funk singer is considered by many enthusiasts to be one of the rawest and brassiest music divas. Her performing career began at the age of three with her family’s gospel group. After singing with the KC band Tommy & the Derbys, Marva began singing with James Brown in the late 1960s. Her recording of “It’s My Thing” reached the R&B top 20. Her recordings have been “sampled” many times since 1990. In December 2009 Whitney collapsed onstage in front of thousands of fans in Australia. She was diagnosed as having suffered a stroke. The rest of her tour was cancelled, and she had been recovering at home In Kansas City. After making a partial recovery and performing again in 2010, Whitney succumbed from complications due to pneumonia in 2012. She was 68. |
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“Rocket” Walls played in Kansas bands such as The Fabulous Apostles and Central Standard Time before moving on to a career that has included 52 world tours, numerous Broadway shows, TV appearances and teaching. Roger Walls now makes his home in Montreal, where he plays, teaches and records. |
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A Wichita based Country Rock band formed in 1976, the group worked with KFDI- FM Radio on many special promotions, as well as self-booking, and working with the Great Plains Booking Agency in Lawrence, Ks. Maintaining a strong local fan base while simultaneously developing a regional following, the band spent many years logging countless miles playing roadhouses, bars and ballrooms all around Kansas, Colorado and Nebraska. It was not uncommon for many die-hard Wichita fans to travel several hundred miles to attend the band’s out-of-town gigs. In addition to the regular road work, Sawdust Charley opened for such luminaries as Asleep At The Wheel, The Earl Scruggs Review, and The Ozark Mountain Daredevils. Relocating to Los Angeles in 1978, the band played many high profile performances, including The Troubadour, before disbanding in 1979. |
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South of the Tracks, Manhattan The core of the band, then called Hickory Wind, was formed in 1972 by Clay Center players Otto Marten (keys, strings), Arn Christensen (drums), Craig ‘Stranger’ Terry (guitar), Robert ‘Duck’ Fordyce (sound engineer/manager) and Longford native Johnny Briggs (pedal steel). The band added Charlie Robie (singer/songwriter), Kansas City, moved to K.C. for a year in 1973, added Steve Spake (bass), Kansas City, then returned to North Central Kansas. — In 1975, Otto, Stranger, Johnny and Duck reorganized as ‘South of the Tracks’ (SOTT), adding Tom Bolton (drums), Manhattan, who played with Pott County Pork and Bean Band, and Kent Howard (bass), Osawatomie, formerly with Green River Ordinance and Friar Tuck and the Monks. The following years welcomed other players: Craig McLaughlin (PR), Manhattan, Charla Bevan-Jones (vocals, guitar), Salina, Jimmy Louis (vocals, guitar), Osawatomie and Ardie Dean (drums), Hiawatha, IA. — South of the Tracks operated out of Manattan, becoming one of several popular Country Rock groups touring Kansas in the 70s. Like most regional bands, SOTT opened for national touring acts coming through Kansas, while averaging up to 250 performances each year. The band’s last gig was New Year’s Eve, 1978 at the Clay Center National Guard Armory. No one could ever accuse SOTT of not being thankful for their fan base, rarely missing a chance to interact into the many dawns of the day after “coming to your town.” — All the players of SOTT remain professional or semi-professional musicians. |
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The Fabulous Apostles, Wichita The Fabulous Apostles started out like most 60’s bands, as 4-pc. Beatles imitators. Jay Leach, Greg Fuson, and two others got together in the summer of 1964 as The Apostles. The Apostles were just one of the many bands from the early 60’s that added the word “fabulous” to their names, patterning after The Fabulous Flippers, especially bands who had added horns and taken on an R&B sound. The bands lineup was leader Jay Leach on lead gtr. and vocals, Greg Fuson on drums, Randy Loveland on trumpet, Vern Harris on bass, Gregg Harris on Hammond organ and Chris Leason on sax. Jim Reardon & Associates of Hays, who had the band playing a wide circuit of dates from Canada to Mexico managed the Apostles. In 1968, a record with the Fab. Apostles name on it was released on the Shana label, featuring a catchy horn band sound with “You Don’t Know Like I Know” and the flipside a heavy fuzz guitar-laden rocker called “Dark Horse Blues”, after The Dark Horse Inn in Hays, KS, a frequent venue for the band. |
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Bored with what was happening musically in the mid-Seventies, Thumbs got together to play cool songs no one else was playing. Almost immediately, they also began writing songs that united influences as disparate as Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, and the Velvet Underground, combining them with garage-rock and the emerging energy of punk. Building an audience of the cool and disaffected, the band released its debut album in 1980, garnering reviews from Rolling Stone and winning over critics from Berkeley to London. The house band of a Kansas rock revolution, Thumbs opened shows for the likes of the Police, XTC, Iggy Pop, and the Sir Douglas Quintet. Their second album, “No Price on Earth” added fans from Musician Magazine to Mikal Gilmore. Thumbs continued to rock audiences in Kansas and Kansas City through 1985, closing their story with “Jericho,” a beautiful addition to “Fresh Sounds From The Midwest, Vol. 3”. Thumbs music and attitude were seminal to the independent rock scene that developed in Kansas during the 1980s. Their independent do it yourself spirit inspired a generation of young rockers. |
| Dick & Jay |
From 1974 through 1984, Dick Wilson and Jay Cooper became the most famous DJ tandem in Kansas City radio history. Their unique interplay, dialogue, sense of humor, and antics both on and off the air helped to insure a loyal fan base throughout the greater Kansas City listening area and beyond. Being the first DJ duo to be inducted into The Kansas Music Hall of Fame will only add further to their legendary status. |
| Wayne Rouse |
Starting as a promoter in Hayes, KS during the late 70’s, Rouse has produced hundreds of shows, both in KS and nationally as well, working with major name acts in both Country and Pop music. Wayne founded Country Stampede, a 3 day Manhattan music fest which is celebrating its 21st year. Wayne Rouse was inducted into the KS Fairs & Festivals Hall of Fame in the 1990’s. |
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This year’s Bob Hapgood Award winner, Orin Friesen grew up on a farm near York, NE. Starting in jr. high, he began making his own ham radio sets. Listening to The Grand Old Opry in particular helped him develop an early fascination with both radio programs and cowboys. In 1966, Friesen moved to Kansas, where he attended Wichita State University. In 2015, Friesen was inducted into The Kansas Cowboy Hall of Fame, celebrating a 50 year career as a cowboy entertainer, musician, and radio personality. As leader of the Prairie Rose Rangers, he’s had his own radio program since 1973. “Bluegrass From The Rockin’ Banjo Ranch” can still be heard on radio station KFDI. |
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The sweet soul sounds of this r&b group took us on a “Natural High” to Billboard‘s Top 10 in 1973. The group was influential in the “black rock” and funk movements of the 1970s with their many hits, charting 13 songs between 1973 and 1984. Since leaving the charts, they have returned to make their base in KC, where they started out in 1962 as the Sinceres.
The Burlington Express was one of Topeka’s top bands in the mid to late sixties. Members of the band were Greg Gucker, Blair Honeyman, Eric Larson and Mike West. They left behind some excellent recordings, but they sounded even better live. Lead guitarist Greg Gucker, now known as Greg Hartline, wrote most of their material, but they also covered other songs of the day.
Max Carl Gronenthal is an American rock singer, keyboardist, guitarist and songwriter. His is the current lead singer of the classic rock band Grand Funk Railroad. In addition, he spent several years as the keyboardist and lead singer with 38 Special, for whom he co-wrote and sang the the hit song “Second Chance.” Among his earlier bands was Lawrence’s Fabulous Flippers.
The Wichita based Clocks arrived on the pop rock scene in 1982, and they almost immediately made an impact on the local music scene. They left us one of the most identifiable songs from that era. The band flourished a bit with the launch of MTV, as their video for “She Looks a Lot Like You” received some decent airplay. It showcased the band’s signature keyboards with a hint of New Wave vibe. Their CBS/Boulevard single and self-titled album both charted nationally.
This band was put together to open Lawrence’s Off The Wall Hall in the fall of 1975. Led by guitarist Allen Weiss and featuring singer/violinist Janet Jameson, the band was soon known for its original songs and exciting live performances. There were a few personnel changes over the years, but whatever the lineup, they never disappointed the crowds that came to their shows. Eventually they broke up with Weiss relocating to California. Jameson, already a 2009 KMHOF inductee with Shooting Star, continues to play with that band, Rock Paper Scissors and Nation in Kansas City.
Keyboardist Mike Finnigan and guitarist Jerry Wood teamed up in this band back in the seventies. Their 1972 album “Crazed Hipsters” is considered a Midwest R&B/Rock cult classic. In 1973-74 another album was recorded but was ultimately shelved when Blue Thumb Records was sold to Paramount. They rocked like few bands of that era did
Johnny Isom, or Johnny I, as he’s known since the mid-eighties, is a true version of the Midwestern Music scene. Johnny did a couple of years in the KC Chiefs band. In the sixties, Johnny put together the Stoned Circus. His current band, the Receders, is a regional favorite.
Krazy Kats, Kansas City (Moberly, Mo)
The legendary Krazy Kats were formed on Valentine’s Day1957, when guitarist Lee Dresser, piano man Willie Craig and drummer Freddy Fletcher, three Moberly, MO, high-schoolers, decided they wanted to rock and roll like Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis and the rest of their favorites. Now based in Kansas City, the trio has logged in over 4000 gigs together. They were voted the “Best Band in Kansas City†in 1991, inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame in 1999, and their original songs are included on many US & European compilation albums. Over fifty years of rock and roll!
Morningstar first formed in 1969. Their line-went through many changes over the years. Their recording contract with Columbia/CBS in 1978 produced two albums. The band seemed willing to play for anyone, anywhere. They opened for other bands and headlined some venues. In the late 70s disco was going strong and punk rock had just started to change the musical landscape. Record companies were dropping acts, so after two albums Morningstar and Columbia/CBS parted ways. Without funds to go any further, Morningstar disbanded.
Stan is a bass guitar player best known for his work with Peter Frampton. He played on Frampton Comes Alive, the biggest selling live album of all time. His most recent collaboration was contributing as co-writer and bass player on Frampton’s 2007 Grammy winning album Fingerprints. He’s also played with Tommy Bolin, Ronin, Warren Zevon and Delbert McClinton. Stan was a part of the 2011 Peter Frampton tour.
Tommy Stephenson, a veteran of versions of inducted bands The Blue Things and The Young Raiders, is a keyboardist with 15 Gold & Multi-Platinum CD’s to his credit. A part of Tommy Bolin’s Energy and Joe Walsh’s Barnstorm, he’s also recorded or toured with such artists as The Eagles, Eric Clapton, Albert King, The Band, Albert Collins, John Lee Hooker, Paul Butterfield, Gary Wright, Poco, Chuck Berry & many more!
Craig “Twister” Steward, Wichita
Harmonica player Steward played on a couple of Frank Zappa albums and performed live with Zappa’s band as well. Now living back in Wichita, he plays at local clubs and works as the arborist for the city. Hohner Harmonica Company says, “Twister is the Hendrix of the Harp!”
When Phil Ehart’s father retired from the Air Force the family settled in Topeka, where Phil started playing in bands. In 1969 me moved to New Orleans for three months, then he spent three months in England. After his visa expired, he returned to Topeka and formed White Clover. Later, Phil added Sarasota’s guitarist/songwriter Kerry Livgren to the fold, and White Clover became the third, and final, version of Kansas.
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Directors Award: Bob Hapgood Award: |
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Count Basie Wikipedia William “Count” Basie (August 21, 1904 — April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Basie led his jazz orchestra almost continuously for nearly 50 years. Many notable musicians came to prominence under his direction, including tenor saxophonists Lester Young and Herschel Evans, trumpeters Buck Clayton and Harry “Sweets” Edison and singers Jimmy Rushing and Joe Williams. Basie’s theme songs were “One O’Clock Jump” and “April In Paris”. Kansas City Years — The following year, Basie became the pianist with the Bennie Moten band based in Kansas City, inspired by Moten’s ambition to raise his band to the level of Duke Ellington’s or Fletcher Henderson’s. Where the Blue Devils were “snappier” and more “bluesy,” the Moten band was classier and more respected, and played in the “Kansas City stomp” style. In addition to playing piano, Basie was co-arranger with Eddie Durham, who actually did the notating. During a stay in Chicago, Basie recorded with the band. He occasionally played four-hand piano and dual pianos with Moten, who also conducted. The band improved with several personnel changes, including the addition of tenor saxophonist Ben Webster.
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Central Standard Time website Central Standard Time evolved out of the last of the original Red Dogs in January of 1970. Kent Leopold, Evan Johnson, Randy Shaw, Bob Meyerhoeffer, Roger Walls and Richard Tade were all members of the last original Roarin’ Red Dogs Band when they decided to leave the mid-west on their quest to make it big in the music business. Since not all of the Red Dogs wanted to make this move, Mitch Bible, Mike Redd and Larry Church were added to the band that would soon become Central Standard Time. Kent Leopold and Evan Johnson were the leadership behind the band that landed the band it’s first gig in Boston in February of 1970. Before leaving Kansas, the band changed it’s name to Central Standard Time. Kent Leopold – Sax and Flute (Coffeeville, Kansas) Below are CST band members that played in later editions of the band.
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James Gadson myspace Drummer, producer, singer, and songwriter — James was born in Kansas City, MO, in 1939. As a teen he naturally took to the drums with the influence of his father Harold, who was a drummer in the legendary Kansas City scene. James eventually found his way to L.A. and joined the legendary 60’s funky soul group, Dyke & the Blazers, where he laid down drums on “let a woman be a woman” which later would be sampled by the Bomb Squad for Public Enemy’s “Welcome to the Terrodome.” After Dyke’s tragic murder and still in L.A., he and other members of the Blazers would end up forming The Watts 103rd Street Band and with the help of Bill Cosby hooked a record deal with Warner Bros. He wrote and sang on some songs like the soulful “dance a kiss & a song”. He played on the best known 103rd Street cuts like “Express yourself,” which was sampled by Dre for NWA’s “Express Yourself”. This was just the beginning for Gadson’s prolific career, which next found him in the mix with Bill Withers producing, writing, and playing on the soulcessful Still Bill LP, which featured “Use Me,” “Lean on Me,” and the funky “Kissing my Love,” which has been sampled to no end. The Jungle Brothers cut up his drums live for “Straight out the Jungle.” From there he became one the most sought out studio drummers, playing on 300 gold records at last count, though you would never suspect it from his ever-humble disposition. He played on Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s get it on,” the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, Herbie Hancock’s Manchild, and most recently Beck, Paul McCartney, and Ray Charles discs. Currently he is doing more sessions and is a founding drummer of the Keepintime project with photographer B+.
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Rudy Love biography Rudy Love & the Love Family were a sibling group headed by older brother Rudy. Over the years, non-siblings performed under the name, but Rudy remained the driving force; Love Family blood members are Bob, Gerald, Peggy, Denise, and Shirley. Rudy was born September 15, 1948, in Oklahoma and the family moved to Wichita, KS; it was a large brood as Rudy has 14 brothers and sisters. He developed a love for singing and performing from his gospel singing/musician father, Robert, and went from there. A touring singer, Robert crisscrossed the country as a performing musician with gospel and R&B artists. Rudy, the eldest son, became the man of the house while dad was away playing. Through his father, Rudy met many of the top names in music when they passed through Wichita. He formed his first group in grade school and went through many others before settling on Rudy Love & the Love Family in college. The group performed locally, but didn’t record since Wichita wasn’t and isn’t exactly a music mecca.
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Pat McJimsey website Wichita’s Pat McJimsey began heading up bands at the age of 17 with Velvet Honey. Later he formed the Bear Valley Blues, the Entire British Navy and Four Brothers. Pat toured with John Manning, Finnegan & Wood, Leon Russell and Freddy King. Upon his death the PAT (Performers Assistance Trust) was established by the Wichita Blues Society to offer financial help to musicians who can’ t play due to major illness, accident or medical emergency or to their survivors to help with final expenses. Shortly before his death and due to many requests from his fans, Pat McJimsey digitally re-mastered the “I Dig Girls” Album originally released in the 80’s. He was very excited about this re-release and had plans to come out with a new, “all blues album”, later in the year. Thanks to the magic of the internet,
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Charlie Parker wikipedia Childhood — Charlie Parker was born in Kansas City, Kansas and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, the only child of Charles and Addie Parker. Charles, an alcoholic, was often absent. Parker attended Lincoln High School. He enrolled in September 1934 and withdrew in December 1935 about the time he joined the local Musicians Union. Parker displayed no sign of musical talent as a child. His father presumably provided some musical influence; he was a pianist, dancer and singer on the T.O.B.A. circuit, although he later became a Pullman waiter or chef on the railways. His mother worked nights at the local Western Union. His biggest influence however was a young trombone player who taught him the basics of improvisation. Parker began playing the saxophone at age 11 and at age 14 joined his school’s band using a rented school instrument. One story holds that, without formal training, he was terrible, and thrown out of the band. Experiencing periodic setbacks of this sort, at one point he broke off from his constant practicing. Early career — It has been said that, in early 1936, Parker participated in a ‘cutting contest’ that included Jo Jones on drums, who tossed a cymbal at Parker’s feet in impatience with his playing. However, in the numerous interviews throughout his life, Jones made no mention of this incident. At this time Parker began to practice with great diligence and rigor, learning the blues, “Cherokee” and “rhythm changes” in all twelve keys. In this woodshedding period, Parker mastered improvisation and developed some of the ideas of be-bop. In an interview with Paul Desmond, he said he spent 3–4 years practicing up to 15 hours a day. It has been said that he used to play many other tunes in all twelve keys. The story, though undocumented, would help to explain the fact that he often played in unconventional concert pitch key signatures, like E (which transposes to C# for the alto sax). Groups led by Count Basie and Bennie Moten were the leading Kansas City ensembles, and undoubtedly influenced Parker. He continued to play with local bands in jazz clubs around Kansas City, Missouri, where he perfected his technique with the assistance of Buster Smith, whose dynamic transitions to double and triple time certainly influenced Parker’s developing style. In 1938, Parker joined pianist Jay McShann’s territory band. The band toured nightclubs and other venues of the southwest, as well as Chicago and New York City. Parker made his professional recording debut with McShann’s band. It was said at one point in McShann’s band that he “sounded like a machine”, owing to his highly virtuosic yet nonetheless musical playing. As a teenager, Parker developed a morphine addiction while in hospital after an automobile accident, and subsequently became addicted to heroin. Heroin would haunt him throughout his life and ultimately contribute to his death.
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The Rainmakers website Missouri has long boasted of being the home of two of America’s greatest artists, Mark Twain and Chuck Berry. However, it wasn’t until The Rainmakers thundered into the national music spotlight in 1986, had anyone combined the guitar power of Berry with the social wit of Twain into a unique brand of Missouri rock n’ roll. Originally formed in 1983 as a 3-piece bar band known as “Steve, Bob, & Rich,” these Kansas City rockers became an instant favorite throughout the Midwest. Soon, fans were standing in line to see this trio they described as “energetic,” “intense,” but most importantly “fun.” Within months of finishing their first independent release, “Steve, Bob, and Rich” had signed a multi-album contract with Polygram Records, added a fourth member, and had changed their name to The Rainmakers. Heralded as “America’s Great Next Band” by Newsday, The Rainmakers were soon drenched in critical acclaim. Feature articles in Newsweek, Rolling Stone, CMJ, USA Today and others poured in singing the praises of this hard working Midwest band who provided new life to a traditional rock format. Critics particularly enjoyed the unique writing style of Bob Walkenhorst, whose talent for choosing unusual and sometimes controversial subjects provided an eye-opening perspective of life, sprinkled with sarcastic humor. The Rainmakers received notoriety for their songs’ lyrical content, including Music Connection’s award for Lyric Line of the Year: “The generation that would change the world is still looking for its car keys,” and in the unlikely source of author Stephen King, who twice quoted lyrics from Rainmakers songs in his best seller “The Tommyknockers,” and again in his 1991 novel “Gerald’s Game.” But success did not stop at the U.S. borders, as European countries supported the band increasingly with each new release. The song “Let My People Go-Go” gave the Rainmakers their first Top-20 single on the British charts. Critics abroad sang the band’s praises, with feature articles in New Musical Express, Kerrang, Rock Power, etc. Frequently, The Rainmakers could be spotted on European television with live appearances on “Top Of The Pops,” and “The Tube,” and video play on MTV Europe. European concert dates grew in number each year, with The Rainmakers often enjoying headline status on festival bills. Their reputation as an electrifying concert act eventually led to the recording of a live album at a sold-out show in Oslo, Norway for release solely in Scandinavian markets. In 1990, after 4 albums, 5 videos, 500,000+ records sold, and concert dates too numerous to count, The Rainmakers put band business on hold to allow time for their personal lives and agendas. In 1994, the band returned to the studio to record a new album, entitled “Flirting With The Universe” – an album which achieved GOLD certification in Norway within 2 months of release. Overwhelmed by the response to “Flirting…,” The Rainmakers reemerged from the studio in 1996 with “Skin.” With this effort, Bob Walkenhorst has again proved that no subject matter is too controversial by taking aim at pornography and its societal impact, via his unique perspectives – a Rainmakers trademark. A release, which in true Rainmaker form, is designed to provoke. The Rainmakers are: Bob Walkenhorst (Vocals, Guitar); Steve Phillips (Lead Guitar, Vocals); Michael Bliss (Bass, Vocals); Pat Tomek (Drums)
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Riverrock website Riverrock is “one of the most popular bands in Kansas City History,” says the Kansas City Star/Times. Since 1974, Riverrock has been a name country music fans could count on for an exciting show of hot pickin’, tight harmonies and spontaneous fun. They have shared the stage with dozens of recording stars, the likes of Vince Gill, Trisha Yearwood, The Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Hank Williams, Jr., Alabama, Suzy Bogguss, The Oak Ridge Boys, Minnie Pearl, Charlie Daniels, Wanda Jackson, Jerry Lee Lewis, Tanya Tucker, Tracy Byrd and Emmylou Harris. Many of these performances were at state and county fairs, concert halls, music festivals, rodeos, college campuses and popular night clubs.
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Bobby Watson website |
Saxophonist Jimmy Wilson has been part of the NE Kansas music scene for many years, beginning with Larry Emmett & The Sliders in the late Fifties. In the Seventies, he was part Lawrence’s Used Parts and other groups. More recently he has spent several years playing in Johnny I & The Receders.
Chely Wright website
Lifted off the Ground may be Chely Wright’s seventh album, but on a number of levels it feels and sounds like her first, revealing an artist who has undergone a dramatic artistic transformation, emerging as a singer/songwriter of the first order. But the new album would never have come to be were it not for an equally dramatic personal transformation, which she has candidly and painstakingly documented. Lifted Off the Ground will be released on Vanguard Records May 4, the same day Random House publishes Wright’s autobiography, Like Me.
Garth Fundis, 2011 Directors Award biography
An independent record producer, Fundis’ credits include some of country music’s cream of the crop; Trisha Yearwood, Keith Whitley, Don Williams, Sugarland, Terri Clark, Alabama, Waylon Jennings, Emmylou Harris as well as New Grass Revival, Doc and Merle Watson, Sheryl Crow and Townes Van Zandt. He has served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees for NARAS (01-03), past Trustee and President of the Nashville Chapter, serves on the boards of the GRAMMY Foundation and MusiCares, Alumnus of Leadership Music. Fundis owns the renowned Sound Emporium Recording Studios. His latest project with Trisha Yearwood, “Heaven, Heartache and the Power of Love” is scheduled for release on November 13, 2007 on Big Machine Records.
Jesse Stone, 2011 Bob Hapgood Award
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductee (2010)
Born in Kansas, Jesse Stone began performing in his family’s minstrel show at the age of four. By the Twenties he was leading a jazz band that included saxophonist Coleman Hawkins, a future jazz legend. Jesse Stone and His Blue Serenaders became a fixture on the Kansas City jazz scene.
Jesse Stone was one of the greatest songwriters of the rhythm & blues and rock and roll era. Much of his best-known work was done at Atlantic Records, where he wrote, arranged and played on some key sessions. For the Clyde McPhatter and the Drifters, he came up with “Money Honey,” which topped the R&B and pop charts for 11 weeks in 1953 and was covered by Elvis Presley early in his career. Another of Stone’s songs – “Sh-Boom,” by the Chords — was a doo-wop classic from 1954. “Shake, Rattle and Roll” – recorded by Big Joe Turner, Bill Haley and His Comets, and many others – became a turning point in early rock and roll history. The song served as a bridge to R&B for white teenagers, who accepted it as rock and roll.
Another standout from the era, “Your Cash Ain’t Nothing But Trash,” was a hit for the Clovers. As a musician, Stone led the house band on Chuck Wills’ rocking update of blues singer Ma Rainey’s “C.C. Rider.” On the jazz side, he wrote “Idaho,” which became a standard. Benny Goodman’s version topped the charts and Guy Lombardo’s version reportedly sold more than 3 million copies. Stone penned “Smack Dab in the Middle,” which became the signature song of Joe Williams,