bluegrass/country/folk

As temperatures fall and outdoor performers take the show inside, these aural options offer the most bang for your buck. Whether it’s bluegrass, Bach, or sludge rock that you get down to, Kansas City’s live music scene has something to offer.

You won't hear gendered terms like "ladies" and "gents" at a new square dance in the West Bottoms. Organizers of this do-si-do scene put an inclusive spin on the traditional American art form.

A new Kansas City square-dancing group is putting a gender-neutral spin on an age old American tradition. Plus: A Kansas historian documents the internal fighting between white soldiers and mistreated Black soldiers that threatened America's war efforts in Vietnam.

This month may signal the end of summer, but Kansas City's selection of musical offerings will stay hot. To make sense of all the options, we pared the list down to simply the best.

Kansas City's summer concert offerings include artists from the West Coast, down south and across the pond. KCUR has curated this list of concerts to help maximize your musical enjoyment this month.

Ozark troubadour Willi Carlisle brings his small-town love and queer themes into the folk music tradition. Based in Arkansas, Carlisle has found an impressive audience in Kansas City and beyond. Plus: How a prehistoric fish in the Missouri river could signal trouble for the Big Muddy.

The outsider troubadour, who’s based in the Ozarks, has steadily gained a following in Kansas City and abroad. His songs about Wal Mart and small-town America are bringing new themes into the folk music tradition.

As the summer music season kicks off in Kansas City, live music options abound — but how to choose? KCUR’s list of the month’s most creative acts will help clarify the decision.

Like hundreds of acts before them, Becky and Nathan Bliss hope the International Folk Alliance Conference can be a springboard to success as a full band — not just a duo.

Kansas City’s 5-time bluegrass ‘Guitarist of the Year,’ Greg Blake, is in demand around the country and abroad. In 2022, the International Bluegrass Music Association nominated him for ‘Male Vocalist of the Year.’

Kansas City author David Cantwell, who just published a new version of a book he wrote years ago, says Merle Haggard was 'constantly singing about the things that we're still arguing about today.'

Folk Alliance International's annual conference is back in Kansas City for the first of three years. Things will be a bit different due to COVID-19, but the public can still participate.