Fifty years have seen Kansas travel a winding path that has included periods of major success, lulls in popularity, arrivals and departures of band members, a long span of time where they didn’t make new music, and most recently, a return to making albums. 

Through it all, guitarist Richard Williams and drummer Phil Ehart have been the constants. They are original members who have weathered the ups and downs and remain invested and excited about continuing to build on a considerable legacy.

The life lesson 50 years of Kansas has taught Williams is simple and profound.

“If you follow your passion, it never turns out bad. You’ll at least be happy,” he said.

Coming up on their journey is a stop at Honeywell Center in Wabash on Saturday, Aug. 10.

Hitting the big time

Kansas’ roots were planted in the bar scene of Topeka, Kansas, where Williams and Ehart partnered with Kerry Livgren (guitar/keyboards), Steve Walsh (vocalist/keyboards), Robby Steinhardt (violin), and Dave Hope (bass) after cycling through various local bands. 

When Kansas arrived on the national scene with their 1974 self-titled album, they had already carved out a distinctive sound that blended British progressive rock and heartland hard rock with violin giving a unique instrumental twist.

“What we were doing was really just creating symphonic works,” Williams said. “Instead of like a cello, violin, and an oboe, we were doing it with violin, guitar, and synthesizers.”

It took four albums, but Kansas broke through with their 1976 album Leftoverture, which featured the hit single “Carry On Wayward Son.” 

Their fifth album, Point of Know Return, was another blockbuster. With the gentle acoustic single “Dust in the Wind” becoming a huge hit, Kansas solidified their place as arena headliners and one of rock’s most popular bands at the time.

Disproportionate Earnings

However, with success came turmoil. This turmoil led to the end of the classic Kansas lineup.

“The songwriters were seeing money from record No. 1,” Williams told me in an earlier interview. “And so the songwriters were doing extremely well, and we started to make money on the road. Money started coming in, but disproportionately, not in a negative way. But some people were making a lot of money and some people were starting to do really well. 

“So (before Leftoverture) we were just all for all, one for one, a pirate ship out on the mighty sea. Now, some people are buying cars and houses and boats, and some people are hoping to soon be doing that. 

“And also, some people don’t want to work as much. ‘I don’t want to work so hard this year.’ ‘Well, you got yours, but I haven’t got mine yet.’ People are getting married. None of these are necessarily bad things, but they change the internal workings of six guys pulling together.”

Walsh was the first to depart, exiting in 1981 to form his own band, Streets. Steinhardt quit two years later. Then, at the end of 1983, Hope and Livgren, who had both become born-again Christians, left to pursue projects that better represented their beliefs.

Getting the band back together

Kansas had essentially ended, although Williams looked at this period as more of a sabbatical.

Sure enough, by 1985 Streets had folded and Ehart approached Walsh about returning, along with Streets bassist Billy Greer.

The final piece of the puzzle came together when Kansas approached guitarist Steve Morse, whose band The Dixie Dregs had recently split.

“He was a fan of Kansas. We were big fans of the Dregs,” Williams said. “So, ‘Steve, what do you think?’ ‘Sure, that would be great.’ And boom, we had a band.”

That violin-less lineup made two albums and lasted until 1990. But Walsh, Williams, and Ehart carried on (no pun intended), going through various lineup changes until Walsh retired in 2014.

Kansas, though, quickly regrouped, bringing on former Shooting Star singer/keyboardist Ronnie Platt. 

And with the departure of Walsh, who didn’t want to make new albums, the band began writing and recording again, releasing two albums, The Prelude Implicit in 2016 and The Absence of Presence in 2020, that recaptured much of the original sound and spirit of the band. 

As they work on new material, Kansas is back on the road, celebrating their 50th anniversary with a career-spanning box set, Another Fork in the Road, and playing shows tailored to longtime fans familiar with more than the hits.

“We’ll pull from all of our previously recorded albums,” Williams said. “And that gives us opportunities, because that is the purpose of this, to dust off some songs we haven’t played in 45 years. 

“So there’s a lot of excitement. I’ve been wanting to do a few of these songs for a very long time. And to get to go back and do them is very exciting.”