Music

After years of rejection, Overland Park native Shelby Floyd felt her dreams come true as she won the HBO Max reality competition show "Second Chance Stage." The singer-songwriter taps into the highs and lows of her journey in her first single "Sad Girl Spring."

Kansas City artist Paris Williams has been writing songs since he was 13. His music is a blend of the rap and R&B he listened to with his parents, and the indie, pop and punk his classmates listened to growing up in Muskegon, Michigan. You can hear him perform later this month at Manor Fest.

Buying a new band or orchestra instrument could get a lot more expensive. Kansas City business owners who import musical instruments have been hit hard by on-again, off-again tariffs with Europe and China, and the path forward remains unclear.

On Wednesday, April 30, the Count Basie Orchestra will celebrate 90 years swinging at the Kansas City Music Hall. "Everybody in the orchestra will be featured. And we'll just be doing what Mr. Basie began in 1935," director Scotty Barnhart told Up To Date.

Gospel Music Hall of Fame leaders hope to expand the museum from one building to a plaza, according to the first draft of a proposed master plan. Last year, former Missouri Gov. Mike Parson approved $2 million to go toward developing the museum.

The percussion quartet serves as faculty and ensemble-in-residence at the UMKC Conservatory. Playing on wine glasses and an empty bourbon bottle (in addition to a vibraphones and drums), Sandbox Percussion recently performed a dynamic Tiny Desk Concert at NPR.

Fritz Hutchison, leader of the band Fritz and Sons, knows his way around the Kansas City music scene. The multi-instrumental singer-songwriter said his "hunger" for music led him to be versatile.

What started as basement concerts in Shawnee, Kansas, has grown to an eight day musical fundraiser, and an opportunity to bring the community together to sample Kansas City's local music scene.

The documentary "Sounds of the City," created by Kansas City filmmaker Dustin Phillips, explores the history of Kansas City's jazz, rock, folk and hip-hop scenes. The film will have its world premiere Friday, April 11 at the Uptown Theatre, and will be available to stream the next day.

A creative collaboration between a Lawrence high schooler named Flora and her dad, Flora From Kansas dropped its debut EP, "Homesick," on March 14. Flora says the musical project has made her feel less alone.

After years as one-third of the Kansas City indie rock/hip hop trio BLACKSTARKIDS, TheBabeGabe is going solo. Her new mixtape "HONEYPOP" aims to re-introduce her to the world.

The first time Danny Cox visited Kansas City, as a nationally touring musician, a clerk at the Muehlebach Hotel told him Black people couldn't stay there. He eventually made a home across the state line in Kansas — and inspired generations of fans.