The Kansas Music Hall of Fame needs to expand its horizons

Nick Spacek,

The Kansas Music Hall of Fame’s 2019 induction ceremony takes place this Saturday, April 13, at Liberty Hall in Lawrence. It’s a good opportunity to reflect on some notable local musicians who’ve made an impact on a larger scale. Per its website, the Kansas Music Hall of Fame was founded 15 years ago “to recognize and honor performers and others who have made significant contributions to the musical history of the state of Kansas and the greater Kansas City metropolitan area.”

The first ceremony was held in 2005; Brewer & Shipley, the Fabulous Flippers, Kansas, and Big Joe Turner were inducted that year, and Melissa Etheridge and Gene Clark the following year. Since then, Split Lip Rayfield, Martina McBride, and many other iconic acts from the region and state have entered the Hall.

This year sees Kansas City’s Ida McBeth added to that list. McBeth is no stranger to awards, having been honored with the American Jazz Museum’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016, as well as multiple “Best Vocalist” awards from the Pitch‘s readers for the better part of the 1990s and early 2000s. The singer’s powerful voice and ability to jump from blues to show tunes with ease makes her a gem in KC’s musical crown.

The second part of the Hall’s mission is that they will “endeavor to promote public interest in the musicians of the past and encourage those of the present and future,” and to that end, there’s the Bill Lee Award, named after the man who founded the Hall in 2004 and died in 2015. The award, which honors the founder’s memory, tends to go to artists still recording and performing. Past honorees have included the Elders and Trampled Under Foot, so it’s perhaps no surprise that this year’s inductee is the blues guitarist Samantha Fish.

Fish has been playing in and around Kansas City almost her entire life, but she really made her mark on the scene with the 2009 debut, Live Bait. Since then, she’s been playing sold-out shows both locally and worldwide, dazzling crowds with her dexterous guitar work. Fish has come a long way in a short time, and it’s great to see her accomplishments recognized contemporaneously.

For every worthy induction, though, there’s another Kansas Music Hall of Fame honoree that leaves local music fans like myself scratching their heads. The Beatles tribute act Liverpool, for example, entered the Hall in 2015. I understand that Liverpool is a long-running, popular act, but … it’s a tribute band. And here’s the rest of this year’s honored performers:

  • Bureman & O’Rourke (KC) — folk rock
  • Jim Dale (Burlington) — garage rock
  • Fyre (Emporia) — rock
  • Bill Glenn (Wichita) — jazz drummer
  • Nation (KC) — rock
  • Scatband (Topeka) — jazz reggae
  • The Secrets (Lawrence) — power pop

If you’re a country artist, garage-rock band, or blues performer, the Kansas Music Hall of Fame will likely get around to honoring you at some point — and if you are one of those things and were around in the ’60s or ’70s, you’re basically a shoe-in.

But consider all the bands from the ’80s and ’90s who haven’t received an invite: the Embarrassment, Get Smart!, the Micronotz, Stick, and Paw. Ditto the Get Up Kids (what?) and Coalesce. Nothing for Tech N9ne or Strange Music, either.

The closest the Hall’s come to punk or hard rock in recent years is Thumbs (2016) and Submytion (2018). If Submytion’s hair-band rock can make it in, how are you not going to include the band that wrote “Sex Drive”?

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It’s a constant frustration — well, mostly for me and a small contingent of people who drink beer and think about these things — but these oversights are odd and obvious, and if you agree, there’s actually a way to make your voice heard. For $25 a year, you can join the Kansas Music Hall of Fame. You get one vote, a membership card, and a 10 percent discount on Hall merch. Congrats to this year’s inductees, but here’s hoping next year’s class is a bit more musically diverse.

♦

The Kansas Music Hall of Fame induction ceremony is this Saturday, April 13, at Liberty Hall. Details on that show here.

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