The “Another Fork in The Road” Tour, which began in 2023, marks the 50th year that the band Kansas has been bringing its intricate, orchestral sound to rock-and-roll fans.
If you’re a rock aficionado and can keep track of the changing line-ups over the decades, you’re probably one out of 100, lead singer Ronnie Platt said. The hundred other fans won’t notice who’s in the band because Kansas always puts musicianship above players and personalities, and it’s no different today.
Whereas the lead singers of, say, The Rolling Stones and Aerosmith may be household names, most would be hard-pressed to name the founding members of Kansas, despite their influential contributions to rock and roll. The band continues to rehearse its exacting compositions before every show, tweaking and drilling, sometimes changing things right up to that night’s show. For fans, aside from its more commercial hits, Kansas’ music is an acquired taste well worth cultivating.
The band will perform at the Crown Theatre in the Crown Complex, 1960 Coliseum Drive, at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 5, as part of the local Community Concerts Series. Now in its 87th season, Community Concerts help to bring big name acts to Fayetteville, all for us to enjoy. Kansas is the latest to join the lineup, with ZZ Top coming up next in March.
You can expect two full hours of hits, fan favorites and deeper cuts Kansas rarely plays live. The band today consists of original guitarist Richard Williams; bassist and vocalist Billy Greer; lead vocalist and keyboardist Ronnie Platt; keyboardist and vocalist Tom Brislin; violinist and guitarist Joe Deninzon; and original drummer Phil Ehart. Williams missed a few shows because he and his wife, Debbie, didn’t know if their home in our western mountains still stood after the ravages of Hurricane Helene.
What the Williamses found out is what many of us have been rediscovering: knowing our neighbors is a beautiful and connecting thing. Everyone was helping everyone else. Ehart, sadly, has missed months of performances. He suffered a heart attack in February, so since March, drummer Eric Holmquist has been filling in while Ehart recovers. Ehart also manages the band.
Of note to our military community, Ehart was a US Air Force brat and instrumental in band members participating in United Service Organizations shows. He christened and organized the 1st Airborne Rock and Roll Division in 1984, which included fellow band members Williams and lead vocalist at the time, John Elefante. He assembled members from the Doobie Brothers, Pablo Cruise, Cheap Trick and others to form a supergroup.
They toured the 7th Fleet in the Indian Ocean and played for troops based in Korea, Okinawa, Diego Garcia and the Philippines. The following year, Steve Walsh replaced Elefante. You can find videos of Kansas-involved USO performances through at least 1988 on YouTube.
If you’re unfamiliar with Kansas’ music, the musicianship alone is worth the price of admission. The only element of the show prerecorded is the intro to “Throwing Mountains,” which contains some effects not easily reproducible on stage. Everything else is one hundred percent live, Platt emphasized. You won’t hear any prerecorded backing or click tracks. The band remains obsessed with emulating the studio albums as much as possible with some added live embellishments, of course. Fans can expect, though, to hear the songs they’ve come to love, the way they heard them initially recorded.
From its inception in 1970, you needed a scorecard to keep track of personnel changes within Kansas, but the music remained paramount, complex and unchanging. One of the most influential founding members of the group was Kerry Livgren who became renowned for lyrical exploration of spiritual subjects and complex musical arrangements. The first three Kansas albums failed to strike a chord with listeners, but the fourth, “Leftoverture,” included a last-minute addition written by Livgren, namely “Carry On Wayward Son." The song was the band’s first Top 40 hit, reaching No. 11 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in 1976.
The fifth album, “The Point of Know Return,” included another late addition: “Dust in the Wind.” It became Kansas’ highest charting hit, reaching the No. 6 position in 1978.
In 1979, Livgren culminated his exploration of religion by becoming a born-again Christian. In addition, Elefante and bassist Dave Hope also became more vocal about their evangelical Christianity. If you’re looking for a Christian rock-and-roll band before contemporary Christian rock was even a genre, Kansas is it. This did create a competition between then-lead singer Steve Walsh and Livgren, with Walsh gravitating toward more rock-n-roll sounds and themes and Livgren leaning into more progressive rock.
Although they were pulling in opposite directions, the chemistry of it created a perfect mix of both in the final product, Platt explained. When you go back and read the lyrics with a full understanding of the Bible, you’ll pick up more than you probably did when the albums were first released.
To that point, Platt, who is not a Christian, gives the same answer when someone asks him what he thinks such-and-such a song is about. Before he answers, he’ll ask, “What do you think it’s about?” Whatever their answer is, they’re right. Like visual art, interpretation of lyrics is open to the interpreter and where they are in life when they first hear the song. The artist might think they’re writing about a certain topic, but the listener applies his or her life experiences, emotions and understandings. For instance, Livgren wrote “Portrait” about Albert Einstein while he was in the process of converting to Christianity. The lyrics were and remain equally applicable to Jesus. In fact, when Livgren left the band and founded the Christian rock band AD, he recognized that and rewrote the lyrics and retitled the song “Portrait II.” Artists create in their subconscious and sometimes even if they’re consciously intending a secular meaning, positive forces can work through their unconscious mind, Platt agreed. “Hold On” and “Lonely Wind” are two other songs expressing human emotions but also pointing toward something higher.
Platt explained that he is such a hardcore Kansas fan, that when he sits down to write, some progression of chords will come to him and he’s not conscious of the objective. He’s writing from the heart and elements from various influences naturally come out in the final rendition.
It sounds like a Kansas song because he loves Kansas’ body of work. When he sings, it’s the same. He may be heavily influenced by his predecessor, Walsh, but also by Brad Delp (Boston), John Anderson (Yes), Lou Gramm (Foreigner), Steve Perry (Journey) and others, all simultaneously.
“You are a product of your influences,” he said.
Even if you’re not familiar with Kansas, you won’t soon forget the show. It’s one of the best in the business. It’s hard to explain the Kansas sound if you haven’t experienced it for yourself. Do listen to the band’s latest live album, “Point of Know Return Live & Beyond,” and yes, that is “Know.” Of course, any deeper implied meaning is for the listener to discern. You will hear a fusion of blue-based hard rock, progressive compositions, and a layering of sounds unique to the band.
Kansas must be doing something right. At 50, it has nine gold albums, three multi-platinum albums, one other platinum studio album, and one platinum live double album. Both “Carry On Wayward Son” and “Dust in the Wind” were million-selling singles with "Carry On Wayward Son" being the second-most-played track on US classic rock radio in 1995 and No. 1 in 1997.
The group spent over 200 weeks on the US Billboard charts in the 1970s and 1980s. They played to sold-out arenas and stadiums throughout North America, Europe and Japan. As nice as the awards are, Platt will tell you, the best feeling is going out to a restaurant incognito after a concert and overhearing a concert-goer say, “I didn’t expect it to be that good.”

(After 50 years, the band Kansas knows a thing or two about putting on a show. It’s arguably one of the best in the business. Don’t miss the chance to see them right here in Fayetteville. Photos courtesy of Michael Fleishman, Community Concerts)